One of the Pride
by Brobama
Summary: Although she could melt any man with a single glance, forming strong relationships has never been Ahri's strongest point. Witha rough start to life at the Institute, she manages to form at least one lasting bond, but one isn't quite enough. Some mild sexual themes, still T though.
1. Acceptance

Like any other day in the League, time ticked by slowly. Grains of sand would fall individually through a massive metaphorical hourglass, a seemingly endless supply of seconds left to endure. The common and menial forms of entertainment that most would turn to in these dreary days had long since lost their appeal, as one can only repeat the same task so many times before its interest becomes lost to the user. Such was a typical day for a certain Champion of the League. A bored, tired, mess of a Champion.

On the rift she appeared in the same shape and form every time. A face of immaculate skin combined with well-kept hair rested upon a body that required no alterations to appear in magazines. Red and white crested silk clung loosely to the curves of her body, whilst a blanket of white fanned out behind her like the rolling waves of a crystalline sea. To summoners and spectators alike she was perfect in every way. As fierce on the Rift as they all hoped she would be behind closed doors, she would dash through her lane with incredible agility, harvesting the life of opponents with the determination of a lone farmhand before a vast ocean of grain. Women dreamed of being her and men dreamed of being with her, yet for all the praise she received she never felt quite right.

For a long set of years being accepted by society was a thought that never came into her mind. With her weekly routine of ripping the very life essence from hordes of unsuspecting men, she could never imaging herself acting like a normal member of society, not while she still had to reap souls on a regular basis to maintain her form. Should they ever find out what she was doing in the tavern rooms that she travelled between, the general public would view her as a creature not fit to walk this earth, rather than someone attempting to be human like them. The League promised change for Ahri, and promised a life that she could only have dreamt about before. At long last a flutter of hope entered her mind, carrying the idea of being accepted.

But the League's promises were seemingly empty, as upon her acceptance, the ground rules set out for her completely forbid her normal practices. The harvesting of souls was strictly forbidden upon and outside of League grounds, yet they had not devised a plan for her to maintain her form either. Matches on the Rift could possibly help her predicament, with the possibility of gaining some life essence for the beings that were temporarily immortal on the fighting grounds. However she was not scheduled to participate in any matches for at least a month after her arrival, due to the tests and training that needed to be done before she was deemed fit to enter the Rift. To the summoners of the League, this meant a month where she would have to restrain her addictions, but to Ahri this meant a few weeks of survival at the most before her need for the life essence of another being would cause her near human state to disappear. Officials of the League promised that they would create a solution to her problems before any issues arose, but in the flurry of preparation for her career pushed those plans to the back of a very long list of tasks. It seemed that even in this incredible institution, home to a variety of species and races, her strange nature could not be accepted.

Within two weeks of her living in the institute Ahri was nearly broken, mentally and physically. It happened on the night of the 18th day, when she could feel her body begin to deteriorate. Coming from the training grounds in the dead of night there was nobody around she could ask for help, and the living quarters were far away. Moving as quickly as her frail form could, Ahri made towards the champions' rooms. By the time she had made it to the start of the dorms, where hallways branched off into each political wing, she was crawling across the floor with a face wracked with pain. A sign was posted on the billboard in the center of the room which split the living wings. Upon this sign were the names and room numbers of healers in the League that champions could go to when in need of immediate assistance. Ahri did not know many of the other champions, and her existence tended to be a mystery for the others as well. Knowing that Soraka was a proficient healer, possibly able to help her in such a dire state, Ahri scanned the map posted for her name. Her room was too far away, off in the far corner of the living quarters. Looking for someone closer to her current location, Ahri spotted another champion with medical abilities located on the closest edge of the Zaunite wing. She could feel her end drawing ever closer, so with a last burst of determination she dragged herself across the vast room towards the eerie and intimidating wing in which the Zaunite champions would reside. Her physical state was rapidly losing its strength, fingernails broke on the cold floor, skin began to tear from the friction of her body against the polished marble tiles. She was within a meter of her destination, all thoughts of pain thrown away she heaved herself the last few feet until she was pressed against the thick wooden frame. She hit the door as hard as she could with a weak hand, once, twice, and barely a third time.

There was no response. Not a single sound of movement from within the room. This was the end. She had come all this way in her desperate life only to fail when she was so close to achieving her objective of humanity. It couldn't end like this, she wouldn't allow it to end like this. With a final effort she set bleeding knuckles upon the door, creating a fourth and final knock on the thick wood. At first, there was nothing, but with her honed hearing abilities Ahri could pick up the light sound of someone shuffling across the ground. A hand rested on the doorknob and turned, the door swinging inwards to reveal a disgruntled and disheveled Janna, clad in dark fleece checkered pants and a light, slim fitting t-shirt. She looked from side to side, attempting to locate whoever was knocking on her door at three in the god damned morning. There was nobody to be found. "Little shits," Janna grumbled, still unaware of the prone form at her feet. "disturbing the peace when I'm tryin' to get some fuckin' sleep, think you're so fuckin' funny running around knocking on doors and bolting." She was about to close the door when a barely audible croak resounded from below her. Startled, she her head snapped down to gaze upon the form of a person who she had never seen before.

"H- help…" was eventually heard from the mass of fur and flesh below her.

Unaware as to what the issue was, but knowing that this girl needed medical attention, Janna did her best to scoop up the much larger body of Ahri and carry her into the room. What became of this was a damaged Ahri being dragged haphazardly across the floor with the assistance of some wind magic pushing her along the varnished wooden slats. Upon lying her down on her back in an open part of the room, Janna bent over to inspect her injuries.

"What happened to you, you're an absolute mess!"

Looking into the golden eyes of the strange girl below her, Janna searched for any head wounds that needed her attention. However, Ahri had a much different idea of what her healing process should be. When Janna leaned in for a closer examination, Ahri pulled her down further for what was supposed to be a passionate kiss. In her weakened state she barely even managed to be contact with her lips, resulting in a mess of saliva to land in the general area around Janna's mouth. However, this small moment was enough for Ahri to grab onto the momentarily vulnerable life essence that Janna possessed. Hooking onto the abundant supply of power, Ahri began to pull the energy into her own body. Feeling a burning pain her in chest, Janna shrieked and pulled back, at which time Ahri broke the connection between the two.

After nearly three weeks of being deprived of this spiritual fuel, Ahri found it hard to control her urges, but managed to keep Janna alive for the time being. With a newfound strength she sat herself up against a wall, and eyed a terrified and angry wind mage sprawled on the floor a few feet away. Putting on her most innocent face Ahri made eye contact with the furious mage. A few moments went by before Ahri eventually broke the silence.

"…Sorry?"

* * *

Janna was the first person that Ahri made proper contact with from the League, and for the past few months she remained the only one that Ahri ever felt truly accepted by. Sure, there were neutral champions like Soraka that treated everyone with the same respect, but she never felt like any of them were actually accepting of her and liked her, or if they just tolerated her as was their nature. So in her bored state, with Janna having already been summoned into a match, Ahri once again felt alone in the institute. Tired, bored, and alone.

There were other champions that she spent some time with, mostly through her connection with Janna, and although they all seemed to enjoy each-others company it was never to the degree that she would actually consider them "friends". If she was truly desperate she could get with any man in the League with no effort, however this would only serve to worsen her status as a free prostitute as opposed to a fellow champion. She already had several bad run-ins through picking the wrong man early on in her life at the league. Before knowing that Ashe and Tryndamere were married, she decided to help solve the problem of his unbalanced arm sizes by offering him an activity that would work entirely different muscles. She was chased hours later by a pursuer with a true heart of ice, no sympathy or mercy to be found. The innocent and naïve Ezreal, although not much of a prize for her, was too easy of an offer to pass up. The next day she was greeted by a blinding flash of light burning her retinas, granting her an excuse to visit Janna under the pretense of healing some burns caused by a "psychotic preteen with a highschool crush." Word spread fast within the institute and before she knew it, Ahri had already been marked as a vixen with a goal to steal every taken man she laid eyes on. It was not the best way to start off what she dreamed of as being a new and bright chapter to her life.

After finishing off the third music album that afternoon, Ahri sat up from her bed and ran through all the ideas she could come up with to keep herself occupied until she was summoned next. It was a slow day for her, as she had been banned from seemingly every match that was important enough to use the bodies of actual champions, rather than the magically generated copies that fought each other in matches that settled lesser squabbles. Due to a long losing streak in her matches, the league decided to make her a bit more powerful on the Rift to make her a more viable pick again. As usual, the summoners at the institute fucked up tremendously and made her into an overpowered, pub-stomping champion with a seemingly limitless supply of mana. With her sudden influx of power, nobody wanted to risk having her on the other team, since unless the enemy mid-laner left halfway through to get their hotpockets out of the oven, there was not a chance in hell that the middle inhibitor would hold past the twenty minute mark. Thus, Ahri spent a secluded life in her room, waiting for the next nerf to be released, giving her the chance to participate in matches again. In the meantime, she would have to sit and wait without a single idea on what to do.

Rattling through a list of ideas Ahri put her mind towards doing something productive. Learn an instrument? Try to sew her own clothes? Practice her writing?

All of these ideas seemed excessively time consuming and tedious, in her current state she had nowhere near the mental capacity to focus on any one of these tasks for any period of time. Settling on a much more simple option Ahri decided to finally get out of bed and have a much needed shower. Running some warm water through the tap and pulling off the baggy shirt she slept in, Ahri stepped through the shower curtain and into the cascading water. Perhaps this would help wake her up, and help her think of something to do. For a while, she stood in the warm water in a state of relaxation. This did not last long, as she eventually had to begin the task of cleaning nine, long, furry tails. It was not a simple task, and in her half-awake state she struggled to complete such a difficult chore. Stepping out of the shower 25 minutes later, Ahri dried off the abundant amount of hair and fur spanning her body and inspected herself in the mirror. She had often heard any females complaining about how their hair is always such an absolute mess when they get out of the shower, or how it always ends up so frazzled and wild after drying it. As the embodiment of the perfect female Ahri never had to experience issues like this to such a degree, but rather she had to experience it tenfold. Today, she could not be bothered with the thought of fixing the abundant fur on her tails, after all she had no plans to leave her room. On the contrary, she had plans to put minimal effort into everything until she could finally be summoned for a match. Walking to the kitchen, Ahri began rifled through her fridge to pull out a carton of eggs, some ham, and a couple pieces of fruit. She then found herself preparing breakfast at 2pm, hair and fur in a complete mess, with no clothes on. It was going to be a long day.

 **Author's note:**

 **There will be no regular update schedule to this, I'll just finish it whenever I please or have the time. New characters to come in the future chapters, of course I don't own any of them, everything is property of Rito. Feel free to give feedback, I'll read them if I have a chance but I don't really give a shit if you don't have time or energy to spend on such a tedious task.**

 **~Who needs Obamacare when Brobama cares about you**


	2. Have some decency

It was her third consecutive match, and Janna was exhausted both mentally and physically. Summoning magic meant that champions couldn't technically get tired on the rift, but every time she stepped off of the summoning platform she could feel the toll on her body rise exponentially. In an odd turn of events she was facing off in the middle lane during this match, eyeing down a LeBlanc on the other side. Janna hated it when summoners decided to try something new and break out of her support role, she always felt vulnerable and out of place in the mid lane. It was all she could do this game to hold her opponent back from taking the first turret, and her mental fatigue was not making it any easier to concentrate on the match at hand. Unleashing a small tornado down the lane, Janna picked off two more minions to add to her gold. Her summoner was building a Mejai's, a bold strategy when Janna did not feel at all comfortable with her current situation. Neither of the two mages had gotten a single kill, and it was late in the game. Nearing the twenty minute mark Janna had received two assists, and luckily no deaths. However LeBlanc was building a glass cannon strategy that would be sure to take her down in a single burst if she was not careful. Once the laning phase of the game was over, she could be at peace and resume her normal role of assisting her allies, but until then she was forced into a passive playstyle.

Although a generally better pick for the middle lane, LeBlanc was getting pushed back at an alarming rate. She was under her turret with only half of her health remaining. The next wave of minions would be sure to take out the weakened turret as well, leaving Janna with an open lane. Confidence spread through her as she released another tornado into the approaching wave of minions before focusing her firepower onto the looming building. Two more hits and she would be in the clear, with LeBlanc blocked by the minion wave, preventing her from landing her chains on the wind mage. With one hit left to go, Janna prepared to face LeBlanc with her remaining abilities. The announcer's voice sounding, signalling that the turret had been destroyed. Releasing her Zephyr on LeBlanc to slow her movement, Janna rushed towards the Noxian with the intent to kill. LeBlanc flashed away, but with no intentions of letting her go, Janna's summoner used their own flash to get in front of LeBlanc, using Janna's extreme movespeed to their advantage. Unleashing her ultimate pushed LeBlanc back towards the river, and with a quick ignite and a few hits LeBlanc would be an easy kill.

Unbeknownst to Janna, a certain Demacian had been waiting for this opportunity. Janna was vulnerable with her abilities on cooldown, and had not yet activated her shield when a bellowing roar sounding from behind her. The dragon's impact knocked her back towards LeBlanc, as Shyvanna's flames and talons mercilessly barraged the unsuspecting champion of Zaun. Activating her shield Janna attempted to flee, but even her nearly maxed out movespeed was no match for the burnout ability of Shyvanna. At only a quarter of her health, Leblanc's chains whipped towards her and finished the kill.

The announcer's voiced echoed through the Rift, letting the teams know that the wind mage had been slain. In her state of life beyond death, Janna awaited the announcement of LeBlanc's demise from the ignite, however the announcer remained silent. Looking at the cooldown for her summoner abilities, she noticed that ignite was still ready to be cast. In a panic her dim-witted summoner had forgotten to cast ignite. Letting out a deep sigh, Janna could only watch of the green bar of her teams' surrender vote filled to 4 v 1.

* * *

Stepping off of the summoning platform for what she hoped was the last game of the day, Janna looked across the room to where the scoreboard was displayed. It was a bad game. No, make that a terrible game. Better yet it was an **absolute shit** game. It wasn't uncommon to see a team get beaten 20-40, and sometimes even 10-40. But when you get beaten 4-40 you have to question how your summoners got their rankings. With only one death Janna ended up being the teams' best champion, with their support Sona coming in at second with 0/4/3. Their jungle was an obvious novice to the position, as he manage to rack up 18 deaths, 0 kills, and 1 assist with Master Yi. 11 more deaths came from Sivir in the bottom lane, and the remaining 6 deaths were from Tryndamere in the top lane. Janna took a mental note of the summoner names to make sure that she un-politely declined any further matches with them on her team. It was an utter waste of her time, a large chunk of her day gone by watching summoners control their champions as if they were playing a game against AI. Frankly, she had better things to do that day, like steal some more of Ahri's food. Summoning a wind elemental to give her a boost, Janna set off at a blistering pace towards the living quarters, stomach shrivelling up with hunger all the way.

Ahri, meanwhile, had long since finished her late breakfast/lunch, but had not yet finished getting dressed. For a moment, she had considered going out to a café in the institute to give herself something to do, so she had begun getting dressed. Whilst putting on a pair of shorts, she realized that there would be no point in going to a café now since she had just ate, and promptly abandoned the idea of bothering to finish putting clothes on. She wasn't going to be seeing anyone that day, so she really had no reason to make herself presentable.

Instead, she resorted to preparing even more food. Ahri never considered herself a cook, but given the extraordinary amount of free time that she always had on her hands, she found herself cooking more than she would have ever imagined. In a matter of weeks she had actually become a rather exemplary chef. The only issue that she ever had was remembering that as a human, vegetables WERE actually a food group. In case you've been living in a coffin and haven't heard of foxes, they eat meat, meat, the occasional random bit they find on the forest floor, and some more meat. It took Ahri a considerable amount of time and two cases of scurvy before she realized that needed to change her diet from the one she had as a young fox. Even with this important knowledge solidified in her mind, it was a common occurrence for larger meals to consist of not one, but two entrees of roasted animal with only a small portion of grains on the side, maybe a couple of carrots for good measure.

Such was a day like today, since it was still 3:30pm and Ahri had plenty of time to make whatever she wanted. Pulling a tray of pork loins as well as a couple of large steaks, Ahri began to prepare a marinade. With the loins basking in sauce and steak sprinkled with a dry rub, she contemplated what to have with her meal in order to fulfill her need for vitamins. Sautéed onions and grilled asparagus would not only taste good with her meal, but also give her only a fraction of her daily recommended nutrition. It was perfect. Throw in some potatoes and she could consider it done.

It was 5:30 when Ahri started to heat up the barbeque on her porch, and it was 5:30 when there was an inconveniently timed knock on the door. Whoever it was had better be there for important business, as she could not grill the steaks unattended for a fear of having any burnt pieces. Ahri hated burnt pieces, even tiny little chunks, almost as much as she hated not being summoned AT ALL. A second knock sounded before she could reach the doorknob. Irritated, she called out to whoever was in such a rush to speak with her.

"Calm down, geez. I'm getting there!"

The figure behind the door took this as a cue to begin a barrage of furious knocking, knowing it would only serve to piss Ahri off even more. Snarling, Ahri ripped open the door to confront the shit disturber that was interrupting her cooking. Janna stood in the hallway, backed up against the far wall to avoid any collateral damage from the enraged kitsune. Looking into the wind mage's eyes, Ahri could feel her anger slip away. Although it annoyed her to no end, she could never stay mad at Janna for long. She was, after all, one of the only people that Ahri could call a friend.

"What is it this time" Ahri huffed. "And was the knocking really necessary?"

"Hey now, I'm just returning the favour you know." Unbelievable, she was still using that morning from months back as an excuse to knock on Ahri's door at all the worst times.

"Actually, I came to ask you a favour." Putting on her best smile in an attempt to woo the half-naked chef, Janna announced her purpose.

"I have no food left in my room, I was wondering if you could make dinner for two? And on an unrelated note, where's your shirt?"

Ears flattened, Ahri let out an audible sigh.

"I don't need a shirt if I'm not planning on being in public, now do I?"

"Fair enough, but what about dinner?" Janna replied with a smirk.

"I don't generally prepare for two people when I'm only expecting one you know."

Seeing the cooking utensils and ingredients spread over Ahri's counter, Janna realized that she had shown up a bit late to the party.

"Oh, come on Ahri. I'll make it up you, I promise. I just need your help this one time."

"This one time is the fifth time this has happened, so you're going to need some good persuasion for me to let you in."

Janna considered her options. She had plenty of gold saved as a champion, so she could easily go to a restaurant. But it was no fun going on your own. She could buy groceries and cook tonight, but it was already late and she was a sub-par chef when compared to her furry companion. Ahri just needed a small favour in return for a meal, so it seemed like her best option would be to give up her pride and bow down before the kitsune.

"Fine, whatever you say, as long as dinner's for two."

"Great, I already have something in mind!" Ahri seemed happy about this, possibly a bit too happy. However it was a favour that she had obviously thought of before, so it couldn't be too bad. If it was any sort of punishment, Janna could almost guarantee that the nine-tailed fox would take her sweet time thinking of a way to make her miserable.

"Since you seem to be so uncomfortable with the thought of me having a top on, how about you lend me yours?"

She must not have heard her right, there was no way that the fuzzy chef was actually making such ridiculous statement. That wasn't any sort of a favour, Ahri was in her own room! She had all of her own clothes literally a few meters away, yet in her head the best course of action was to make the wind mage sit in embarrassment for the whole night. Plus, without her clothes, there was no chance to Janna was making the trek back to her room for risk of someone seeing her. Janna then realized how well this plan could work for Ahri. It had only taken a few seconds to come up with, but somehow the sly fox had put her in the most uncomfortable predicament possible. Although she wished to protest, Janna was desperately hungry, and couldn't bear the thought of waiting any longer for a meal to come.

"Fine, but you have to let me inside first."

Ahri only giggled in response as she dragged the wind mage in by her arm.

* * *

Waiting for Ahri to finish at the barbeque, Janna sat at a dining room chair, covering herself with her thin arms. Her usual Rift attire which she had been wearing was not very covering in the first place, but now she felt completely bare. While she wasn't looking Ahri had gone and hidden all the blankets in the room, so at the moment Janna was unable to find anything to use as a makeshift top. The fact that Ahri somehow managed to fit into Janna's thin fitting outfit was still beyond her comprehension. Although slightly embarrassing, Janna had to admit that Ahri's body was truly designed to attract men, which was quite contrary to hers in some very specific areas. With the outfit switch, Ahri's blood circulation must be completely gone.

However she was still standing as she brought two plates over to the table, both piled high with food. Janna didn't care if the food was five start at this point, she had skipped lunch due to her earlier matches and she was famished. She was about to dive into her meal when she realized the Ahri was staring at her. It took her a moment to realize why, but eventually figured out that until Ahri's eyes broke contact with her, using a fork and knife was out of the question.

"Come on Ahri, you've kept this up for long enough. Can I just have my shirt back?"

"Does this even count as a shirt?"

"I don't know," Janna replied, obviously flustered "Just give me some decency okay?"

She should have known that it would end up like this. Although both she and Ahri were working on changing her nature to be a bit more socially acceptable, it was a rocky road. Sometimes, Ahri couldn't help herself, and her personality from the past would resurface. As they were alone, this was unfortunately one of those times.

"Fine, you can have your decency." Ahri replied, with false disappointment in her voice.

" _Oh thank god"_ Ran through Janna's head, as Ahri stood from her chair. However, instead of returning Janna's clothes, she pulled her chair and plate closer to the wind mage and sat back down. _"Oh god no"_ Ran through Janna's head, as she realized what Ahri was actually doing. Three of her nine fluffy tails curled their way around Janna's thin frame, and came to rest in front of her torso. Janna sighed, it was clear that the kitsune still had a long ways to go in terms of social conduct, but at this point, it appeared to be the best that Janna was going to get for the night.

"Starting tomorrow, I'm forcing you out of your room. You need to learn how to ACTUALLY conduct yourself."

* * *

True to her word, Janna showed up at Ahri's door early next morning, nearly denting the wood in an attempt to wake up the fox.

"Just give me a second!" could be heard from inside the room.

Impatiently, Janna paced in front of the door, waiting for Ahri to get her ass moving and get outside. She had promised to be ready by 8:30, but it was clear that she had not even woken up by that point. It was 9:00 by the time that Ahri finally opened the door, and although she looked stunning it she had not yet had the chance to eat anything. Attempting to cover the sounds of her growling stomach, she quickly grabbed Janna's arm and began their journey down the hallway.

"Whoa Ahri, hold up. You don't even know where we're going today." Came Janna's flustered response.

"I don't care wherever we're going as long as they serve food." Ahri's reply was short and curt, she wasn't in any mood for small talk until she had eaten.

Janna sighed, so far the day was off to a rough start, as they were already straying far from the plan that she had laid out for the day. They were supposed to be going to the institute gardens, where the Ionian champions always started appeared early morning for meditation and general discussions. She was hoping that some of the more dignified people from the far off land could help Ahri, but at this point the kitsune had other plans. At their blistering pace, Janna pulled herself into the air and floated beside Ahri to keep pace with the agile fox. They had already passed the institute's cafeteria, so wherever Ahri was planning on going it must be far away. All the larger restaurants and cafes were all in an entirely separate district, near the shopping plazas.

Ahri made an abrupt right turn after a few more seconds, landing her and Janna in a quaint area of the league which Janna didn't even know existed. She never had much reason to be going in this direction other than for shopping, and the stores weren't for another half kilometer. Somehow this small intersection had evaded her vision for her entire stay at the institute. The turn led them down a short cobblestone road that revealed a small circular opening. A few shops lined the side of the circle, one in particular which Ahri was moving towards. It was a small coffee shop with two sets of wire tables and chairs in front of it. A lone grape vine clung onto the side of the café, snaking its way up the wall next to an iron and glass door with a bell positioned on top. A worn beige wooden sign read in ornate lettering _"Ionian Treasures, tea and coffee"_ Although worn, it was beautiful in its own picturesque way. Behind a large glass window, covered with ornate metal designs, a lone figure sat inside at an oak table. Although from far away it was difficult to make out her exact features, brilliant blue hair was easily spotted through the café window. With a matching blue and yellow dress there was no mistaking her identity. Unless a summoner had become a bit too obsessed with replicating her looks, there was no question that Sona had somehow found her way to this small area as well.

Although she was not the first champion that she wanted Ahri to meet, Janna realized that this may be the perfect opportunity. Ahri was willingly entering a shop with perhaps the league's most reserved and innocent champion. If anyone knew about decency it had to be Sona. Obvious communication barriers could pose a problem, but for the time being Janna was willing to give it a try.

A light ring could be heard from the brass bell above the door as Ahri swung it open. Inside, a few tables with chairs were scattered around the floor, with a booth and the window to sit at, as well as a few tall chairs lined up against the counter for convenient service. A planter filled with Ionian varieties was lined up against the wall near the door, and on the opposite side of room there was a large bookcase, filled to the brim with literature for any customers who wished to have something to do while they finished their meals. Although Janna was taken aback by these features, Ahri strode straight towards a chair at the counter to order her food. Janna had already eaten, but now that she had come all this way she may as well order something. Ahri had finished placing her order, and the short woman behind the counter turned to Janna. Thinking for a moment, she ordered a simple green tea to start her morning. Upon receiving her hot beverage, she went over to join Sona's table while Ahri was still preoccupied with her breakfast.

Sona, although surprised by the presence of other champions at what she thought was a hidden café, welcomed Janna with a warm smile. The two were never on the field together due to their identical positions, but they still managed to maintain positive relations outside of the rift. The supports in general had a tendency to stick together and get along well, as their personalities often lined up well. An obvious exception would be Thresh, but he was… Different.

Sona pulled out a notepad and began to scribble down words in what still managed to be an elegant font.

" _Good morning Janna"_ was written on the small piece of paper with smooth, sweeping letter. He growing up as a mute led her to being very proficient at the art of handwriting.

"Good morning Sona. I'm surprised there are other champions in this place. This is my first time here, and it seemed too tucked away for anyone else to find it."

Before she had even finished speaking, Sona's hand was a blur across her paper.

" _I could say the same for myself. I have never seen anyone else either. Is there something that brings you here today?"_

"As it turns out, there is." Janna thought carefully of how she should word the next sentence. Anything too much may alarm the innocent girl, especially the events of the previous night.

"Do you know Ahri?"

" _I know of her, yes. We've only been in matches together a scant few times, and I have not yet had the chance to talk to her outside of the league. I have been told to avoid her, something to do with me not being 'prepared' for her antics."_

Janna's perfect plan was off to a rough start, it seemed as if Sona was already frightened by the kitsune. The chances of her actually spending time with Ahri were looking smaller by the second.

" _However, I don't really believe what they tell me. She seems nice enough, I would like to be able to get to know her better."_

It took Janna a second to process what she read. Sona had likely been told rumours about Ahri from some of the high class Demacians, most likely Jarvan himself. It was unheard of for Sona to go against the word of any of her Demacian companions, so the fact they she wished to ignore their warnings now both baffled and excited Janna at the same time. She must have just come from a Pentakill concert to have been in such a rebellious mood. At least, it was rebellious for the timid Sona.

Yet no matter how strange it was for Sona to be acting this way, it was perfect for the current situations.

"Why don't you go over and talk to her now?"

Sona paused in thought, contemplating the idea before writing on her notepad.

" _I would like to, but does she even know who I am? It's hard to introduce yourself when you can't speak."_

Sona was back to being timid again, but Janna had no time for this sudden change of heart. If Sona couldn't introduce herself, she'd just have to take the reins and do it for the maven.

"Hey Ahri, why don't you come join us?" She called across the silent café.

Turning suddenly, Ahri first made eye contact with Janna, then with the maven of strings. She had never seen this woman outside of the Rift, the idea of speaking with her intrigued Ahri. However, her golden eyes drifted away from Sona's blue ones, and shifted downwards a few inches. She knew she really shouldn't, Janna was after all trying to calm her past instincts. But it was too hard to resist, for a solid few seconds Ahri just couldn't bring herself to look away.

Eventually, she snapped back to reality when she noticed the glare that she was receiving from the wind mage. She quickly scooped up her plate and carried it over to where the other two were sitting. Taking her place at the table and did her best to regain her composure.

"So, you're Sona right? I don't think we've ever spoken outside of the Rift"

Ahri awaited a response, but apparently the maven wasn't very interested in her, as she went back to writing in her notepad. Ahri was about to pass her off as overtly rude when a slip of paper slid into her vision.

" _We never will speak to each other, I am a mute. I apologise for any inconvenience."_

Ahri was taken aback by the sudden realization. She scolded herself at her initial judgement of the poor maven before resuming the conversation.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Like I said, I don't think we've ever met before. On the Rift you seemed to be able to speak fine."

" _Being on the Rift allows me to convey telepathic messages through my summoner. I am still training to do this outside of the fields, but it is still taking some practice."_

Ahri was dumbfounded. She knew that the Rift could amplify some people's powers, especially through the use of the powerful items that one could purchase, however to have completely different abilities was a new topic to her.

"What makes it so much easier to do on the Rift?"

After waiting for the maven to write an impossible amount of words on her tiny pieces of notebook paper, Ahri received her answer.

" _Summoning magic links all of the sumoners and champions through a magical connection. Because of this connection, I can transfer my messages like you would over a phone line. Once the line is broken outside of the Rift, I can never seem to form it myself. It requires a deep connection through the mind and soul."_

She thought about this for a while. It made sense, but basic summoning magic is not very difficult. Even she could access another persons could just through natural abilities.

Gears began to turn in Ahri's head as she realized what she just said to herself. She could access the soul of others, essential she could make these connections. She could speak with Sona instead of waiting forever to have little slips of paper delivered to her.

"Sona, could you lean over here for a second."

Sona placed her hands on the table and leaned her body across. Janna, who was previously preoccupied with her tea jerked her head up and she made a connection between Sona's position and Ahri's movements.

"AHRI, NO!" She cried. Sona's head whipped to the side to face the mage, but it was a moment too late. Ahri's hand grasped Sona's delicate cheeks as she pulled the confused maven in for a passionate kiss. It only lasted a split second before Ahri found herself on the ground, with a much lighter yet still incredibly strong Janna pinning her to the floor. Her cheek was red from where she had received a hefty smack, but in the brief moment she had with Sona she had been able to take a tiny piece of Sona's life essence along with her. Through the sound of Janna's yelling, she could hear another, softer voice. It was mumbling to itself in some incoherent speech. Ahri picked up some hints as to what the voice was rattling on about, something about her first kiss being with a complete stranger. Janna continued her vocal barrage until she was silenced by one of Ahri's fingers pressed against her lips.

"Please, Janna." Ahri cooed in a mellow tone. "Just shut the fuck up for one second."

In a brief moment of stunned silence, Ahri managed to push Janna off and lift herself back up to the table. She made eye contact with Sona, taking in the wide eyes and red face, seeing the pure terror and adrenaline that was coursing through Sona's veins.

"Sorry your first time had to be with a stranger." Ahri said, attempting to comfort the poor girl across the table. "But you know, at least we can converse without your notebook now."

Thoughts raced through Sona's head, thoughts they she believed could only be heard by herself.

" _I don't know what she means, Ahri is crazy. I knew I should have stayed away from her, Jarvan was right."_

"Come on now, I'm not that crazy. And what I mean is that I can hear you know."

It clicked for Sona, Ahri had actually just read her thoughts. Whatever the insane fox had done was allowing her to listen in on Sona's mind. It was both incredible and petrifying at the same time. On one hand, Sona could converse with someone properly now. But on the other, it meant Ahri could hear absolutely EVERYTHING that went through Sona's mind. Maybe there was a way to cover her thoughts, but for now she had no idea how she could manage that.

"Aw, what do you need to be hiding your thoughts for? Don't you trust me?"

Janna, meanwhile, was still on the ground, listening in on Ahri's voice with confusion on her face. It seemed like she was talking to herself, with someone else silently responding to her words. Could Ahri actually be telling the truth? Could she truly hear Sona? If it was true this would be an incredible breakthrough. Knowing that Ahri could hear her speak, Sona would never leave her side. It was too good to be true, Ahri would have a companion who was not only loyal, but could keep her in check in public situations. She would really have to apologise for slapping her later.

"Well, I'm all done with breakfast." Came Ahri's voice. "Janna had some plans for me this afternoon, want to come along?"

There was silence for a second, and then the scraping of chairs and both Ahri and Sona stood up from the table to pay for their meals. Janna got up to go pay as well, it looked like Ahri had found a companion earlier in the day than Janna had planned for. Everything Janna had laid out for the day was assuming that Ahri would consistently reject the company of others, or get rejected herself. They now had an entire day with no plans, and no league matches either. Janna had a feeling that Ahri would find a way to make this day completely chaotic.

 **Second chapter done, a lot longer this time. This length will take me longer to write unless I have lots of spare time, but I'm more satisfied with the result. It just lets me get smoother ideas down. Next chapter, see what the trio can find to fill their day with.**


	3. Small Steps

With no plans on how to spend the day, Janna now followed behind a now energetic Ahri who pulled the two supports through the growing crowds in the league's main roads. Approaching the peak time of day on a weekend meant that it was near impossible to walk down a street without bumping into someone every few feet. Ahri was utilising her agility to the fullest, dodging and weaving her way through the sea of people. Unfortunately, she had completely forgotten about the large tails which billowed out behind her. The lucky ones would only get a face full of fur, a few strands of fluff making their way into people's mouths and noses. The unlucky ones would take the full brunt of the force, all nine tails launching them off their feet and into the ground, groceries and bags spilling out around them. Although Janna wished she could stop to help out in Ahri's wake of carnage, she could not let the kitsune disappear on such a crowded day. Gods only knew what possible situations Ahri could soon get into if her natural curiosity took over. Although not a kleptomaniac, Ahri did have a bad habit of "borrowing" items that certainly did not belong to her. The issue was that it was hard to borrow food from the many vendors lining the sides of the street. Once Ahri had her hands on their goods, they would be gone without a trace.

Eventually the fox-girl stopped outside of a set of glass doors. Janna and Sona took a chance to catch their breath while their companion waited for them impatiently. Eager to get inside, Ahri grabbed their arms once more and plowed through what she thought were a swinging set of doors. What she did not expect was the new hextech system that had recently been implemented in the League's main shopping mall. A pressure sensor on the floor would detect when people were approaching the doors, letting the two glass panels slide apart smoothly. This new technology surprised Ahri for a second, but she did not have any time to appreciate it as without a set of doors to break her momentum, Ahri was carried with her full force towards the ground.

Behind the damsel in distress, the raw instincts of a seasoned support kicked in. Ward, heal, protect. There were no wards needing to be placed, and healing was not yet necessary. Protection was in need. Janna quickly summoned a gust of wind below Ahri to break her fall. She made sure to not use a strong enough gale to stop the kitsune, as she still wanted to see her faceplant for her own carnal desire. Sona o the other hand had no magic to help the fox in this situation, so she instead stood with her hands crossed, pretending to look as if she didn't even notice the girl plummeting to the earth.

Ahri felt a burst of wind rushing past her ears, slowing down her fall, but not enough to avoid any sort of pain. The wind had pushed her arms behind her back, thus removing her of having any ability to stop herself. Instead, her left cheek collided with polished tiles, leaving a small bruise and sending a sharp pain through her face. For a moment, she lay still, listening to Janna snicker behind her back. Her mind searched for Sona's thoughts, but the maven was doing an incredible job of covering her thoughts with images of nature, blocking Ahri from reading what she was truly thinking. Had the nature images not flooded through Sona's mind right then, Ahri would have instead gotten Sona's inner dialogue, having an argument with itself.

" _Should I tell her? No, it would be too rude to bring up in public. Then again, it's rude to not tell her as well. But is it as rude as actually telling her? Oh, I don't even know anymore. I'll just let Janna do it."_

Janna, meanwhile, still failed to regain her composure. Despite her best efforts to maintain a normal breathing pattern, she could not help but feel laughter bubble up inside her from the pitiful form displayed at her feet. Ahri lay spread eagle, face to the ground and arms at crooked angles. Her tails were disheveled and unmoving, the only movements coming from her slow breath lifting her chest up and down. There were supposedly going to be matches later in the afternoon, so she was clad in her Rift attire in case she was summoned on short notice. This outfit was a VERY unfortunate choice for how the day had so far been going.

Through a combination of her flailing motions and Janna's winds, what had started as a small tear in the back of dress from a previous week had ripped completely open, leaving her back almost entirely bare. Should she be summoned on the spot, Ahri would only be able to hope and pray that her summoner would pick a different skin, giving her a temporary set of fresh clothes. Ahri had yet to notice the missing seams on her back and began to pick herself off the ground. Something felt off, it was a bit too breezy in the mall. In fact it was much too breezy, as Janna had summoned another gust of wind below Ahri. Maybe it was supposed to help her get up, but it was much too weak for that. Upon standing up fully, Ahri felt delicate hands grasp the cloth under her arms.

"How about we go on a little shopping trip?" Janna whispered into a furry ear.

"Well duh, that's why we're here. Why bother pointing out the obvious."

Janna snickered again, Ahri hinted on and realized something was wrong. She felt for where the wind mage was holding her clothes and realized there was no material on her back. Her face went beet red, she would have to navigate the entire mall like this until she found a suitable set of clothing, which for her could sometimes take hours. Although not the pleasant start she had hoped for, at least she had an excuse to spend a bit extra now.

* * *

The trio quickly navigated their way towards the nearest clothing outlet. It was a large department store, with large lettering stating "L'ERA" posted on a sign above the wide entrance. Inside, benches piled high with a variety of clothing were scattered across the floor, with racks interspersed between them holding sale items. The walls of the store had indented shelves which had stacks of items in different sizes and styles, the same pair of jeans seemed to have fifteen variations with nearly no difference between them. For Janna and Sona, it was confusing and foreign. For Ahri, it was perfect. She quickly strode over to the section bolstering a wide selection of shirts and tops, careful to avoid any of the intrusive employees that milled about the store. It was almost any shopper's worst nightmare for one of these sales associates to have the nerve to approach them. They would shove overpriced items in your face, hoping that you would catch on their hook and purchase their wares. Luckily for Ahri, the store was bustling with customers, and all of the floor employees were busy forcing clothing onto the less fortunate customers who had arrived before the kitsune.

Ahri scanned over racks of clothes as quickly as she could to find the perfect item before any of the sales employees finished with their customers. She was far from inconspicuous in her current outfit, and even if she had tried to herself the nine tails were a dead giveaway. If she was spotted, she would be swarmed immediately, the sales associates knowing that a champion of the League would have stacks of loose change ready to be spent. She first picked up a black pair of shorts, followed by a white and black crop-top. Although she didn't have time to act like a runway model, her new outfit would look ridiculous with her standard league shoes. She snatched a pair of white knee high socks, black stripes adorning the top, and was searching for the right size of shoe to pick up. Running her finger down the tall stack of shoes she found her size and turned around to find the fitting room. She was making her first hurried step towards her sanctuary when a piercing voice rang through her ears.  
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeey, weldome to L'Era! Such a pleasant surprise to see a beautiful champion in here today, hope you're having suuuuuuch a good day right now."

That voice. It was so fake, it was so whiny. The sound of it shrieked through Ahri's ears, sending shivers through her whole body. She froze as she realized that at this exact morning. Her bundle of clothes was clutched tight to her chest, holding her wrecked outfit in place. She dared not turn around, once eye contact was established the leech attached to her wouldn't leave until she disappeared from the mall.

"Sooooo, anything I can help you with today? I have some greeeeeaaaat outfits for you to check out, perfect for someone with such a stunning body. I'll even give you a champions special."

She could feel the acid dripping off of every word. She started to walk away. Maybe if she just walked away he would take a hint and leave her alone. For a few steps he just followed behind, chattering about some new releases. She was approaching the fitting room, although she knew that he would just wait for her to leave the room so he could pester her again, she could at least change into some fresh clothes and leave fast. She was over halfway there. The store was massive, starting at one end it was a long ways to the rooms in the back. The sales person pulled up beside her, matching her stride while he tried to shove an extra dress into the pile of clothing in her arms. She pushed it aside with as little tact as possible, trying to rid herself of the parasite. He put the dress down on a random rack, instead picking up a pair of ornate jeans off the next rack. He picked up his pace once more and appeared in front of Ahri. When she pushed past his block her began to walk backwards in front of her, it was clear that he was not going to pass up a possible sale with a champion. She was hoping that it wouldn't come this, but the employee was trying to switch out the clothes in her arms with choices of her own. Should he succeed she would lose her grip, and the possible exposure that could result was too much for her. She cleared her mind, tapping into her magical power source. With a burst of energy, Ahri flashed past the sales associate with a trail of blue lingering behind her. Finally she was free! Putting some extra speed into her steps, Ahri made the final dash towards the fitting rooms. With only a few steps left she didn't dare slow down, and made her way towards on open door.

Suddenly, her momentum stopped. All the effort she put in was for nothing as her body ceased to move. Jolting from a running pace to motionless, Ahri could feel a shooting pain from the base of her spine. Clutched in the sales associates hands were two different shirts, and two of Ahri's tails.

"Before you head on in, I just reeeeeaaaally thought that you would love these items!"

The last straw was drawn. Ahri could handle annoying people, and she could handle pushy people. But anyone that touched her tails without permission were riding a quickly descending elevator to hell. Not tails were not only precious to her, they were also extremely sensitive. The employee behind her, with his greasy side swept hair, immaculate smile, and thick eyelashes, was soon to become a disheveled mess. Seeing that he had gotten Ahri's attention, he dropped the tails to begin detailing the shirts he had brought over. However once his gripped was released, what he wasn't expecting was for Ahri to abandon all her thoughts of keeping herself covered, abandon her thoughts of maintaining a good public figure, abandon thoughts empathy for others, and instead filled her mind with the thoughts of blinding pain. Using the momentum from her spin, Ahri's leg pulled back and drove through, foot fully extended to achieve maximum force and reach. She was moving too fast for the employee to react. A swift kick shot towards him, angled between the slight gap in his legs. A toe connected, followed by the rest of her foot. A sickening crunch was heard through the store as the unfortunate man was lifted off the ground a few inches, held up by an incredible force impacting his testicles. Although she had done this before in sticky situations, never before had she actually delivered a kick to the balls so powerful that it actually caused a loss of consciousness. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, as his mouth opened in a gasp of air. The shirts were dropped from his hands as they instinctively moved to protect his more prized parts, but it was all too late. She was a mage, not a fighter, yet her follow through was beautiful. It was a perfect straight kick, there was not a single flaw in her form or execution. The employees' body feel back to earth, landing on his feet yet his legs crumpled and yet his body drop with a large thump. He was blacked out, completely unconscious. It was likely for the better, since this way he wouldn't have to experience the initial sickness from the devastating hit. His damaged body retched and let a stream of bile makes its way to the carpeted floor.

Noticing the large crowd watching her, Ahri pulled her dress back up to her chest and grabbed her clothes off the flood. Finding privacy in the change room, she made haste in switching her clothes. The shorts were a bit too tight and the shirt a bit too loose, but it would have to make do. Opening the door once more with her ruined clothes in hand, she strode over top of her still unconscious assaulter. She noticed the shirts he dropped on the floor. She hadn't paid any attention to them when he was harassing her, but looking back they were actually quite nice shirts, in her size as well. She picked them off the floor and went to resume her shopping, disregarding the onlookers that watched her in fear and fascination. No other employee dared approach her for the next hour that she spent in the shop, feeling peaceful and relaxed for once.

* * *

Ahri had eventually coaxed Janna and Sona to join her in the store, and spent a good chunk of their time in the shop convincing them to try on different outfits that they wanted nothing to do with. Ahri had a large sum of money saved from the League, since she didn't get out enough to spend it, and decided to buy all her favorite outfits for the two supports even if they didn't want to make the purchase themselves. Looking over their recent acquisitions, Janna realized that she had made zero progress with Ahri. The small pieces of fabric in their bags could hardly be considered clothes by her standards. Even though Janna's Rift outfit was quite revealing, outside of the field she liked to stay relatively modest. Not to the point of seeming uptight, but definitely not to Ahri's standards.

Despite Janna's best efforts to make her think otherwise, Ahri was still sifting through outfits that had no features to improve her social decency. Admittedly she did look nice in them, but Janna was still hoping that maybe she could pick out a dress or two for more formal gatherings in the future. Ahri was not void of a fashion sense, but her wardrobe was composed almost entirely of outfits that were much to revealing to be worn to any sort of fancy meeting. Ahri could look beautiful in almost anything, it shouldn't be too hard to find her something.

After around an hour the trio left the store with their new purchases, moving on to the next shop where Janna had a shred of hope left that she could find something nicer for Ahri, and maybe herself. Back in L'Era, Ahri had gotten Janna a halter top high-waisted shorts combination, which Janna had attempted to protest. However her protests were relatively weak, since she did have to admit that it had looked relatively good on her. Sona had been selected a sleeveless v-neck coupled with a short-ish skirt. Ahri would have liked to have gotten some more risqué items for the maven, but even she recognized that Sona was a modest girl with modest needs. Perhaps the mental connection between the two gave Ahri a better perspective on the situation, preventing her from pushing Sona too far.

The rest of the day went rather smoothly. Janna had gotten Ahri to buy a long, elegant red dress, as well as a swimsuit for the upcoming summer. Surprisingly enough Ahri posed no arguments when they walked past the string bikinis and straight towards the one pieces and monokinis. She settled on a red monokini without questioning it, sending a breath of relief through Janna, knowing that she would be at least partly covered for the swimming season. Of the three it was actually Sona who had gotten the smallest piece, picking out a white bikini that was likely designed for someone smaller than her. Never the less, she liked it and the other two weren't in the mood to oppose her.

They soon found themselves in a food court with trays piled high. Ahri surprised Sona with the large quantities that she consumed, yet it never seemed to affect her form in any way. She plowed her way through a full meal from the nearby Hot Wok along with three orders of sides. Janna and Sona opted for a single serving, not feeling the need to be bloated for the rest of the day in an attempt to match Ahri's appetite. They were about to get up and leave when Ahri spotted something from the corner of her eye. She tilted her head to look at the sign across the mall, and after following her gaze Janna nearly collapsed from exasperation. At the far end of the mall stood a store dedicated entirely to selling League merchandise. All of the champions had visited it before to see how they were being marketed, but only a scant few ever came back. There was a section of wall dedicated to each champion, each section containing paraphernalia such as plushies and badges, but most prominently were always the mock outfits on display. Groups of people calling themselves "cosplayers" adored the thought of wearing signature outfits from the League's champions, but unfortunately this store only stocked the ones that they knew what sell. To the store owner, this meant to overly sexualize everything on display. It was a perverse tactic that payed off, and it wasn't only seen in the store. Even the Institute knew how to play the game of sex appeal.

To pay for increasing numbers of champions and Rift upgrades, the Institute needed tremendous amounts of money. Of course they already got a lot for match viewing, and having city states pay them to host a match to settle their disputes. However this money didn't leave any room to spare in the budget, so to create some breathing space in the tight finances, summoners could pay extra to add a little spice to their champions outfit. Purchases could be made to summon Katarina in a cat outfit instead of her normal assassin's apparel, or Nidalee could be placed on the Rift in a ridiculous French Maid costume. Some of the costumes were cute and menial, like dressing Fiddlesticks as a party clown, but others were absurdly sexualized. The league made insane amounts of cash from summoners buying their favorite champion outfits, and if the price was right a lucky summoner could sometimes choose their own modifications. Of course, this required money that only the richest people could procure, and it was never really worth it. Never the less, it meant that all the champions had something that this souvenir shop could put up for lonely summoners to be attracted to. Riven's section only ever held her battle bunny outfit, and Ashe's only had replicas of her heartseeker costume. The section with Ahri's pieces was currently unidentified, and Janna did NOT want any of the three champions to find out.

Before she knew it Ahri was making her way towards the stores' entrance, with confidence in every step, Sona following closely behind before Janna had even gotten to her feet. The two champions were two stores away from the entrance. Janna rushed over to stop them before they could reach the opening, she lunged forward to grab Ahri put missed and only held onto air as Ahri sidestepped her attempt. She must have heard her coming, it was getting close to being too late to stop her. Janna stood up once more and scanned ahead for the kitsune only to find that she was gone from sight.

"Janna, you coming or not?" She heard Ahri's voice calling out from beside her. Turning to her left she saw Ahri and Sona inside a chocolatier's store, picking out boxes of the creamy delicacies. Attempting to regain her composure, Janna dusted herself off and entered the store behind the two.

" _There's no way she didn't see the souvenir shop, is she just in here to distract me?"_ Janna's thoughts rushed through her head, but she tried to push them aside, attempting to believe that Ahri was actually improving. She could feel Sona's hand brush up against her, looking down she saw a note that Sona held out. Picking up the slip of paper she read the elegant lettering in her head.

" _You forgot that Ahri and I can converse through thoughts didn't you? Her fault for forgetting to tell you. She did see the souvenir shop but I convinced her to avoid it. Have some more faith Janna, she is getting better at the idea of 'decency', it just takes time."_

Maybe Sona was right, perhaps Janna was being too quick to judge. It looks like the day had turned out like Janna hoped, Sona was having an impact on the wild fox girl. She felt a buzz in her pocket, coming from her phone. She pulled out the device and saw the alarm symbol displayed on the screen. League matches were about to commence. A blue timer appeared above her head, counting down the seconds. Looks like she was being summoned right away. Sona and Ahri were still in line to pay, no timers displayed for the two champions.

"I've got to go, I'm being summoned. I'll see you two in a few hours, alright?" Sona and Ahri turned to wave goodbye at Janna, who had just begun to be pulled upwards by a blue light, her body fading into nothing after a few seconds.

"… _Don't do it Ahri"_ voiced Sona through her head.

"Come on Sona, it can't be that bad can it?"

" _Who knows what they'll have displayed for your section, I've heard some bad stories from that shop."_

"But have you ever actually been in it?"

" _No, but-"_

"Then we're going to pay a visit to a certain souvenir shop."

Sona sighed, she may have at least delayed Ahri's will to visit the shop, but it was apparently not enough.

* * *

Janna was right. Ahri was never walking through that store again. Walking the line between scarred and traumatized, Ahri was curled up on her bed reflecting on what she had seen. Her standard outfit was hung up on the wall with… missing pieces. Below it hung nine fake tails, attached to… She couldn't even say it in her head. None of I was foreign to Ahri, she knew that such outfits and objects existed, but what disturbed her was the thought of others wearing them and pretending they were her. Was this how she was viewed outside of the league? She didn't want to think about it any longer but she couldn't rest her mind.

Sona's visit hadn't gone much better. She had followed Ahri through the doors with some hesitation, and her first impressions weren't all that bad. Some plush toys were on display at the front, along with some posters figurines. The part that she wasn't prepared for lay in the back of the store. She saw everything, and it wasn't something she was quite ready to forget. Sona lay on the bed behind Ahri, stroking her fluffy tails in an attempt to calm both herself and the kitsune.

Neither had been summoned for a league match that evening, and at this late hour there wouldn't be any matches coming up until the next day. The two stunned champions awaited Janna's return. She was like a parent figure in many situations, and this was a situation when they really needed a parent figure. They waited for around an hour for Janna to show up after the matches should have finished, but did not hear the door rattle until long after dinner should have been eaten. Ahri sat up from her bed and Sona followed suite, still clutching a few of Ahri's tails. The two made their way towards the front door to open it for the wind mage, to find Janna looking back at them with tired eyes. She was in baggy clothes and had clearly just come out of the shower.

"You two look like a mess." Janna stated.

"Sona says that you look worse." Ahri replied, relaying Sona's telepathic messages

"My team was dominating the match, we had the nexus pinned down and could have ended it in five seconds. Instead, my summoners decided to spawn camp until the other team had all disconnected from their champions." Janna explained to Ahri, frustrated and exasperated at the same time. "Worst of all one of the champions was still connected, just with a summoner that had left they're summoning platform. Because of this the match could still continue, it took two hours to finish."

Ahri and Sona just stared at her with blank eyes, seemingly void of emotion or focus. Janna let silence linger for a few seconds, the two champions inside Ahri's room made no attempt to break it. Janna was concerned, she had never seen either of them like this. Preparing herself for the worst, Janna spoke up.

"What did you two do?"

Ahri took a moment before she replied.

"We saw… everything."

Janna let out a heavy sigh, finding her hand laying itself across her face. Unbelievable. After all the warnings, and even with Sona accompanying the kitsune, they still managed to make their way into that awful store. She felt some sympathy for them but did her best to cover it up with a scolding tone.

"I can't believe you two, I was gone for a few minutes and you went right ahead and plowed your way into that store. Even you Sona, I can't leave you alone can I?"

Both Ahri and Sona slowly shook their heads. Janna's plans to help out Ahri had worked for a grand total of half a day. She was going to need to find yet another champion to look over BOTH of the messes that stood in front of her. Ahri was barely improved and Sona was corrupted. What was she going to do now?

* * *

Late into the night the three champions found themselves outside, wandering their way through the outskirts of the institute. Janna decided that it would be best to have them go and get some fresh air, hoping that a change of scenery could clear their minds. Ahri and Sona eventually found themselves in a more relaxed state, forgetting the events from earlier that day and letting themselves go in the near silence that surrounded the Institute. A gentle murmur of voices could be heard from across a street, barely a whisper in the night. The small group of drunks made their way home from a nearby bar, too tired to be making any sort of noise, instead just voicing a few grunts as they bumped into one another as well as tripping over objects littering the street. A few crickets were letting out their calls from the lush grass that lined the outside of the League's walls, the white noise being ever present but not to the point of being annoying. A gentle breeze flowed through the air, brushing blades of grass past each other and letting out a gentle rustling sound. The night was in its prime, with a clear sky letting out light from brilliant stars that littered the absolute black space around them. A three quarter moon shone bright in the center of the nights' backdrop, casting a smooth light across the faces of the three champions.

Ahri's footsteps made barely a sound, the agile fox born and raised to make as little noise as possible when moving. Sona and Janna floated beside her, letting no noise come from their movement. It was a perfect night, with a slight chill lingering in the air. They walked on through the winding path that lined the Institute, not keeping track of how much time had passed. They didn't care if it was midnight or six in the morning, all they needed to know was that they were in such a pristine moment. Eventually Ahri slowed to a stop, turning around to survey how far they had travelled. She didn't recognize this area, so they must have gone far. She turned from side to side, taking in all the new views, Janna and Sona waiting for her a few steps ahead. She was about to continue on walking when a cliff caught her view. Although not exceptionally large, it was by no means small, standing at around ten metres off the ground.

"They call it melancholy hill." Janna said from beside her, her voice barely a whisper.

"In the early days of the institute, as they were finishing construction, a young boy wanted to get the full view of such an impressive city. He climbed to the top of this cliff, and sat upon the lowest branch of the maple tree at the top, watching the sun rise above the League's rooftops. Although not yet complete it was still a marvel to look at. After nearly an hour on top of the cliff, his friends and family had finally found him after looking around the entire Institute. They called for him to come down. He hopped off the tree branch to make his way back down. His family waited with open arms in case he slipped. When he landed on the grass, he stepped on a large tree root and lost his balance. His shoe came off when he fell over the lip of the cliff, tumbling to the ground.

"His mom broke his fall, but in turn broke herself as the momentum crashed down on top of her. Neither of them walked away that day. They were the first people to visit the Institute burial grounds."

Ahri didn't break eye contact with the maple at the top of the cliff. It was an impressive tree, standing four metres off the ground with a full head of leaves coming from its strong branches. Although it was hard to make out in the dark night, it glowed with a brilliant shade of red, healthy leaves giving off colours that stood out in the largely green forest behind it.

The trio stood at the base of the cliff for a few moments, appreciating the area around them and the events that had taken place. After some waiting Ahri took steps towards the rocks, Janna and Sona waiting behind her. She placed a hand on the stones and traced their outline as she walked parallel to the cliffs' face. A steep grass path lay beside the cliff, leading into dense bushes and trees. Getting onto all fours Ahri pulled herself up the steep hill, and pushed her way through the foliage blocking her path. She climbed up beside the cliff for a few minutes before turning and scrambling horizontally across the dirt until she found the side of the cliff once more. She could see a flat patch right above her head. She pulled herself up, laying on her chest and swinging the rest of her body over top of the ledge. An opening in the forest lay ahead of her, she swung aside some bushes with her arm and found herself looking at the red maple tree. She walked to the edge of the cliff, placing each step with measured precision to make sure to avoid any spots where she may slip. After making it to the edge she bent her head down to look at the two supports waiting for her at the bottom. They made eye contact for a second before she turned to leave. But before she could make her way down the hill, she saw lights coming from across the other side of the institute.

Ahri sat for another half hour on top of the cliff, watching the sun rise from a perch upon the maple trees' lowest branch. A ways away from her another champion watched the golden orb appear behind the rooftops from a tall tower at the edge of the League's living quarters. Her auburn hair glinted in the sunlight.


	4. Deal or no deal

Leona's room was not lightly furnished, but not overly cramped either. Everything that she owned was functional and had a purpose, making her room easy for her to use and keep clean. Granted, everything was lush and well decorated, with dazzling golds and royal purples lining the room. Her large bed was kept tidy, blankets folded every morning with the sheets tucked in. Leona was always an early riser, antankd maintained those habits throughout her career at the league. Every morning she would wake up early, times changing depending on the season to get the best view of the sunrise. Currently her alarm was set for 6:15, at which time she would get up and promptly turn on her coffee maker. She would then put on a pair of sweatpants, a tank top, and slippers. After changing she would make her bed, timing it perfectly to hear the sound of her coffee maker finishing off her morning cup. Taking the mug in hand she would walk a short distance down the hallway to a spiral staircase leading to an observation tower, where she would lean over the railing and wait for the glowing orb to surface. She would sip on her coffee periodically, finishing off the drink before it got too cold. To simplify her life her coffee was always black, as she was a simple woman with simple needs. Once the sun had fully risen she would walk back to her room and get changed back into her purple under armour, which she would then wear down to breakfast. After eating a quick meal, she would grab her full armour set and prepare for the day that lay ahead.

Today, however, her usual schedule had been thrown off. This was not a good sign, as she had not had issues with her timing for at least four months. If her morning schedule didn't go right it always signalled bad luck, last time she lost every League match, spilled breakfast, and got a cut on her forearm during training.

On this particular morning, everything was going smoothly until Leona got back to her room to put away her mug and change her clothes, halfway through putting on the purple jumpsuit there was a knock on her door. Nobody ever knocked on her door, especially not this early. With the upper portion of her jumpsuit hanging around her waist Leona walked over to answer the door. A swinging arm of the purple fabric caught on her coffee mug and knocked it off the counter, shattering on impact with the floor. Her bad luck was already starting, maybe it would be even worse once she opened the door.

Swinging the wooden frame open, Leona was met by the disgruntled face of a very sleep Janna. She had enormous bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. The wraps around her feet were coming undone and her clothes were askew. Sleeping peacefully behind her was the sleeping form of Ahri, tails wrapped around herself as a makeshift blanket.

"Hey Leona," Janna mumbled. "I have a huge favour to ask of you. I figured you'd be the only person I'm willing to trust who would be awake this early."

Leona was puzzled, the whole situation seemed strange to her and reeked of bad luck.

"And what would this favour be?" She questioned, hesitant to hear the response.

"Well, neither I nor Ahri slept AT ALL last night. I need to go grab some rest before the matches start, and so does she, but frankly I don't think I can trust her on her own to be ready when the matches start."

Unaware to the sleeping kitsune her abilities had been nerfed the previous day, meaning that she had become less of a threat on the Rift and was once again a viable pick in the higher class matches. She would finally be getting summoned again and she had absolutely no idea.

"So what you're asking me to do, is to babysit her for you?" Leona didn't know what to think about this. It didn't sound entirely awful, but she could think of a hundred possible ways in which this could go wrong.

"Well, yes. I guess I am. Look, I'll find some way to make it up to you, I just need help this one time."

Leona pondered her options, thinking up a list of favours that she could force the wind mage into. But was it worth the risk of cursing herself for the rest of the day? One day wasn't a big deal, of course it was worth it. Leona grinned devilishly as she thought up her plan.

"I'll do it, but you have to promise me one thing."

Janna let out a sigh of relief, she was almost ready to collapse from exhaustion and was ready to agree to any terms. Leona was a nice, motherly figure, without an ill intention in the world. Other than destroying her sister, of course. There was no way that her request would be too outlandish.

"I know for a fact that Diana leaves her room every night at 1am, always with the door locked. However, her window is open every night during the summer."

Janna did not like where this was going, it was obvious at this point that someone's privacy was going to be invaded, and that certain someone was likely going to be busy staring at the moon during that time. Janna already felt guilty about having to accept Leona's terms.

"I need you to use your wind magic and get yourself through that window. It's not a huge gap, but you're small, you should fit no problem. Bring a bag with you, you're going to be taking some stuff back."

"And what exactly do you want me to be taking?" Janna asked cautiously, hesitation in her voice.

"Her undergarments, all of them."

The favour was just too ridiculous, Janna could not see herself accepting these terms. Ahri would have to take care of herself for once if this is what it would take to get Leona to accept. She was about to turn and leave before Leona's voice stopped her.

"There is something else that I would like you to take."

Janna faced Leona once more. She wasn't sure that what Leona had to say would change her mind, but she didn't want to seem rude and keep walking. Leona gave her a sad smile before continuing.

"Diana took something from me long ago, before I came to the League. I've never had a way to get it undetected, so I have never bothered trying. That doesn't mean that it has no value to me, it still does. When Diana and I were still children we were each given a pendant, a sort of acceptance from the Solari. When we broke apart Diana took mine, and has had it ever since. She keeps it in plain sight, right next to her own. They're engraved, shouldn't be too hard to find."

Janna pondered her options once more. The original plan of an elaborate panty raid had no interest for her, but an item of such value to Leona held some reason to go through with the plan. She still didn't feel right about stealing, but she also didn't feel right about not helping her fellow support.

"Fine, I'll do it. Just make sure you take good care of Ahri, okay?"

Leona smirked. "Don't worry about us, I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

Janna left to finally get some sleep.

Ahri awoke in a foreign room, atop a luxurious bed with silk sheets and some of the softest pillows she had ever felt. The smell of breakfast cooking wafted through from an adjacent room, bringing Ahri to her senses. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and let her bare feet settle on the plush carpet below. Strange, she didn't remember ever removing her shoes. Investigating the rest of her body she noticed that all of her clothes were gone, instead replaced by a silk bathrobe. She looked around for where her garments may have been placed and found them hanging on a line outside the bedroom window, drying off in the hot sun. She turned away from the window and back to the slightly open door, from which the scent of food was drifting through. She cautiously approached the wooden frame and pushed the door open a bit more, careful not to make any noise. She saw a tall woman with golden brown hair standing in front of a stove, with eggs sizzling in a pan clutched in her hands. From the back Ahri didn't quite recognize her, although her hair was remarkable. Ahri made a mental not to find out her secrets to having such a lush mane.

She softly padded across the floor, staying as silent as possible until she was directly behind her possible captor. She did not know how she ended up in this place and was not ready to take any unnecessary risks. When the woman eventually let go of the frying pan, Ahri pounced and attempted to pull her captor to the ground, ready to sink her fangs into her neck if need be. Instead of collapsing to the ground like she expected, Ahri found herself still in the air, clutching to the larger woman's back.

"Hello, Ahri." Leona voiced in a soft tone. "Glad to see you're energetic this morning, but this wasn't the hello that I was expecting."

"Who are you." The kitsune snarled, still cautious around the strange woman.

"Am I really that pointless to you on the battlefield? I guess we haven't been paired much, but I'm sure that I've prevented numerous deaths for you. I have a tendency to do that."

The woman's identity began to dawn on Ahri. She connected the very obvious dots from the colour scheme of the room, the woman's incredible strength, and the massive sword and shield lying in the living room. Embarrassed from her previous actions, Ahri lowered herself back down to the floor.

"Heh… Guess I didn't recognize you from behind." She said sheepishly.

"Well obviously, I wouldn't expect such a hostile introduction otherwise. Care for some eggs?" Leona said, motioning to the hot breakfast she had finished preparing.

Ahri had not eaten dinner last night and she was starving. She wolfed down Leona's home cooked meal in just a couple of minutes, leaning back in her chair with a satisfied stomach. Leona, meanwhile, was taking her time and using proper table manners to finish off her breakfast, allowing herself to savour each bite and swallow carefully. After polishing off her plate she took their dishes and piled them in the sink, returning to the still sleepy Ahri who was drifting off in her chair.

"Now, apparently you don't know this, but you're going to start to get summoned again starting today, so you need to be ready for matches when they start in the afternoon."

Ahri was estatic. "I'm getting summoned again? It's been weeks since I last touched the Rift!"

"It's been ten days Ahri, don't get so overly excited." Came Leona's reply, stating the simple and dry truth of Ahri's exaggeration. However, this did little to slow the kitsune's excitement as she finally had something interesting to do with her days. She was bouncing on the spot and Leona's efforts did little to calm her down.

"Look, Ahri, if you're going to get summoned today you need to clean yourself up. There's only two hours until the matches start and you look like a mess."

It was true, Ahri was a disheveled mess. She was in bad need of a shower, and after that it would require a large time commitment to fix her hair and tails. Leona was used to dealing with her own long strands of hair, but nothing could have prepared her for what Ahri was dealing with. Entering her bathroom with the fox in tow, Leona turned on the tap for the shower and let to water run until it was hot. Ahri dropped her bathrobe and stepped into the stream of hot water, closing the light yellow shower curtain behind her. Leona was about to leave when she heard bottles of shampoo being knocked off into the tub.

"Ahri, are you doing alright in there?" Leona called.

"I wish I could say I was, but this bathroom really wasn't designed for someone with tails." Came Ahri's embarrassed reply. Leona realized that Ahri likely had a much larger tub at home to accommodate her needs, and using someone else's shower must be a huge hassle for her.

"Are you at least able to clean yourself properly?" Leona asked, crossing her fingers that Ahri would say yes. Unfortunately, her finger crossing had no effect on the outcome.

"I can't really move my tails into reach without them sticking out of the shower. So unless you want your bathroom to be flooded I could use some help."

Leona sighed, before undressing and laying her clothes in a neat pile on the bathroom counter. She stepped around the shower curtain and into the tub, to find that is was indeed occupied almost entirely by Ahri's tails. She didn't realize how much fur there actually was to clean, but never the less she diligently worked her way through the dense fur, cleaning and rinsing all nine of the massive tails. Lucky for her Ahri wasn't playing the innocent game too much and had cleaned her own body, sparing Leona from performing the unnecessary task no matter how badly she may have wanted to force the Solari warrior to do so, just so she could see Leona lose the stoic look and squirm for once.

Leona moved to step out of the tub but was abruptly stopped by a certain fox grabbing her by the shoulders. She could have easily removed Ahri's hands and continued on her way, but she halted none the less.

"Nah-ah-ah, not until you're clean too!" Ahri chided, pulling the Solari back under the water.  
"I'll have you know that I already showered before you even arrived at my doorstep."

"Aw, you're no fun at all." Ahri said with a pout on her face, trying her best to make Leona Stay. Leona's reply came with a drawn out sigh.

"Fine, but don't take too long."

Ahri giggled before pulling the warrior in closer to get started.

Leona had to admit that she was glad she stayed under the water. Although it wasted a large chunk of time Ahri's hands could work magic on her body. Leona didn't really do much other than train all day, so the resulting tension in her toned muscles was immense. After the shower was complete Leona nearly begged for Ahri to continue her heavenly massage, for it was simply too good of a chance for the Solari to pass up. She had never had any sort of relaxing treatment before, and the feeling was overwhelming. It hurt a bit at first as Ahri worked the bulk of the tension out, but once her body relaxed it turned into the most incredible experience she had felt before.

After finishing drying off Ahri's immense amount of fur, they both went to the bedroom to get changed. Ahri reached for her clothes which were hanging outside but noticed that they were still too damp to wear.

"Leona, do you have anything I could borrow for today? My clothes are still too wet to wear right now."

"Sure, we'll find you something. How do you wear that stuff anyways, it's all so small and constricting."

Ahri blushed at the warrior's reference to her clothing choice. Not being a fighter, she had no need for clothes that were 100% functional. Instead, she often opted for them to suit her more 'sultry' tastes.

"It's not THAT bad, I never really notice anything." Ahri replied in a quiet voice, trying to hide her red face from the Solari, who was currently pulling a set of clothes out for the kitsune to wear.

"Oh come on, there's no way you can actually do something practical in that getup. Everything I own is functional, it all suits a purpose. I couldn't ever see myself fitting your style."

Leona handed Ahri a stack of clothes, which Ahri put on as a substitute until she could get back to her own room and got some of her own articles. Leona's clothes fit surprisingly well. The warrior was definitely stronger and heavier than Ahri was, but she wasn't much bigger in terms of height, so the outfit was only a bit baggy on the slimmer fox. This gave Ahri an idea.

"So do you still want me to continue hat massage?" She asked, looking intently for Leona's reaction.

The auburn haired support's eyes lit up at the suggestion, almost throwing herself to the ground at Ahri's feet so they could resume as quickly as possible. Ahri, however, had different ideas in mind.

"I'll continue under one condition. If you really want me to keep going, you'll have to switch clothes with me for all of tomorrow."

Leona silently laughed, it would have nearly no effect on her life if she changed outfits since League matches would take up almost all of tomorrow. She would only have to be wearing Ahri's clothing for a few hours in the morning and evening.

"Night time included" Ahri added on.

" _One night as well won't be all that bad"_ Leona thought to herself. "You have a deal, Ahri, now get those hands working. Ahri gladly complied, giggling in her head at the fact that Leona didn't notice how tomorrow an off day was for the champions. League matches wouldn't save her then, she would have to spend a full 24 hours in an outfit of Ahri's choice. Based on the conditions it also meant that Leona could choose an outfit for Ahri, but she didn't mind. Maybe she should try out some more practical clothing, it may actually serve a purpose in her life.

Leona let her mind drift off as Ahri kneaded her back like warm dough, sending the Solari into a state of complete relaxation. She was so stunned that she didn't even notice herself being summoned onto the Rift a few minutes later. Matches had started and Leona was summoned right away, interrupting her heavenly massage and placing her on the battlefield in the completely wrong mindset. She opened her eyes to see the shopkeeper looking back at her as she realized that she would have to resume her massage later. Yet somehow she could still feel the delicate hands pressing into her back. She turned her head around and found Ahri in full uniform still continuing her work.

"Looks like you were right, I have actually been summoned today." Ahri said, standing up from her perch on the support's back and making her way over to the shopkeeper. Looking around the rest of the summoning platform, Leona spotted Volibear lining up for the top lane, Shyvana making her way towards the jungle, and… Thresh? Oh gods no someone was trying to break the meta again. Leona stared at the warden as he purchased a Doran's blade and a couple of health potions. The chain warden looked back at her and sighed.

"I know, I know. It's a stupid pick. I didn't make this idiotic team, but I do plan on still winning this match. Do not let me down, frail woman." The warden chuckled at Leona's reaction to being called frail. He patted her head as he made his way to the bottom lane. "Do not fret, I am only joking. You are deceivingly strong for someone of your elegant stature."

Leona was never quite sure what went on in the warden's head. He was somehow a mix of a terrifying, ruthless and disturbed killer, whilst also maintaining the manners and speech of a true gentleman. Something was definitely wrong with him, but for now Leona put those thoughts aside and turned her focus to the match at hand.

Ahri, meanwhile, was already on her way to securing the first kill. She had landed two clean throws of her orb on the enemy Veigar, lowering his health to half after a few basic attacks. He had not yet used either of his potions, and still hid behind his group of minions, hoping to secure some gold before being forced to head back to his nexus. Ahri, however, had different plans for the purple clad yordle. He hiatus from Rift games meant that she was full of energy to fight in her new matches, and she gave no mercy to the tiny master of evil. Upon hitting level two she obtained her charm and skirted around the side of the minion waves. After getting a clear line of sight on Veigar she blew a kiss which hit him square in the face, following it up with an orb of deception and her ignite. He flashed back towards his tower, but not before taking damage from a few minions combined with Ahri's auto attacks. His health stood at 45, the 30, and dropping to 11 before the ignite wore off.

"HAH, you can NEVER crush the master of evil! I will always conquer!" he cackled, not noticing the blue orb flying through the tree line by his side. Ahri's orb of deception barely made contact with the yordle as he was at the very edge of her range, but she managed to graze him enough to finish off his short life before returning to her wave of minions.

"FIRST BLOOD" boomed through the rift, the announcer's voice echoing through the champions' ears. The match was so far off to a good start, and Ahri had plans of keeping it that way.

Late into the match Ahri and Leona found themselves side by side in the bush over the wall of the dragon pit. The enemy team was desperate and getting careless, they were being beaten badly and needed the dragon buff quickly. They had completely forgot to ward the jungle, their only source of vision being the defeated rift scuttle providing a temporary ward. Leona's stealth ward, meanwhile, was placed in the dragon pit undetected. In their rush to kill the dragon none of them had yet to scan the area. Waiting for their jungler to arrive the enemy team did a quick scan of the pit, missing Leona's ward by a foot. Once their jungler arrived the dragon's health slowly diminished, Ahri and Leona waiting for their easy buff and triple kill.

"So, you ready for tomorrow?" Ahri said with a smirk, passing the time until the dragon was nearly dead.

"Don't put that on my mind just yet, I'm still regretting the choice." Leona grumbled. Although secretly she did feel that the massage was worth it she didn't want to inflate Ahri's ego just yet.

"And you do realize that you have to wear one of my outfits, right?"

"Fine by me," Ahri responded. "Janna's trying to get me to be a bit more modest anyways, who knows, I may find a new fashion sense."

The dragon's health was low, and it was time for Ahri and Leona to make their move. The enemy Lee Sin cast his smite to early, leaving the dragon with 100hp and letting Ahri secure an easy buff with an Orb of Deception from over the wall. Both women flashed over the wall and began their onslaught. Ahri's charm caught Lee Sin with deadly accuracy, allowing her to finish off the already low health jungler with a quick foxfire. Two foxfires remained, and they locked themselves onto their Sona support. The maven had yet to build any magic resist, causing her to easily succumb to Ahri's attacks. After some damage from Leona and a single spirit-rush from Ahri, Sona found herself in a undead state, waiting to return to the summoning platform. Caitlyn was the last one to take out, sprinting down the river in an attempt to avoid her certain death. Leona pulled herself towards the marksmen and used her exhaust to slow the sheriff down. Ahri arrived soon after with her two remaining Sprit Rushes, casting her charm and orb of deception as soon as they finished their cooldown. Caitlyn fell a few meters later from a minion's basix attack, earning Ahri a triple kill with a tremendous amount of disrespect for one of Pitover's Finest.

"Seriously, she died to a minion?" Ahri giggled.

"While you could have had a bit more honour and just finished her off." Leona scoffed, chiding the mage for her lack of respect.

"Whatever, it makes it more fun this way."

Leona just rolled her eyes as they proceeded to make their way down the middle lane, meeting up with the rest of their team to finish of the enemy's remaining turrets, and quickly destroying the Nexus.

Ahri stepped off of the summoning platform and into the Champion greeting room, where summoners and champions alike mingle to watch matches and relax at the nearby café. Ahri's team was met by applause and congratulations for their swift victory, whereas their opponents simply sulked as they stepped off their platform. Caitlyn gave Ahri a dirty look, forming her fingers into the shape of a pistol aimed at Ahri's head, pulling the imaginary trigger with a pop from her mouth. It was clear that she needed a cooldown after her most recent match. Ahri and Leona, meanwhile, had made their way over to the café to sit down at one of the many barstools, ordering some refreshing drinks before they had to participate in their next match. The kitsune seemed lost in thought as she sipped her beverage, attracting a nervous stare from the support on her right.

"Something bothering you?" Leona questioned.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking." Ahri replied in a lazy voice, still unfocused on reality.

"What could possibly put you in such a spaced out state? Ahri thinking is unheard of." Leona said with a smirk appearing on her lips.

"Nothing in particular, just thinking."

"Alright, well, you do you I guess." Leona said as she returned to her drink, giving up on trying to understand the fox.

In truth Ahri was thinking about a lot of things, all tied to one common cause: How she could make Leona's day as torturous as possible. It was clear that Leona had been desperate for the massage to continue earlier, and wasn't thinking clearly when Ahri put up the offer. Had she actually put thought into the situation, she would have realized that she had technically given Ahri the right to provide her with one sock as clothing for the entire day. Of course, Leona could retaliate with just as much force. But Ahri still had the upper hand since she got first choice on the day's outfit. Ahri planned on using this advantage to its fullest, and was creating a mental list of what she should do for Leona's outfit tomorrow. The Solari warrior was clearly unused to wearing anything that showed skin, aside from her swimming outfit that she used at the League's last beach party. Even that was more covering than many other swimsuits, so she had likely picked it based on how much it covered, not the actually style or how well it suited her, even if she did coincidently look stunning in it. Ahri couldn't wait to go home and get started.

Three matches and a break for dinner later, Ahri found herself back in her room sorting through her extensive wardrobe. She started from the base up, looking through her underwear first. Leona would have to supply her own bra, but Ahri still had the liberty of picking out the bottom half of her coverings. She rummaged through her neatly packed drawer, looking for the smallest panties that she could possibly procure. She finally found it, a black mesh set, and set it aside on the bed. Moving on she went through her stack of bottoms, deciding to go with a skirt for an ironic contrast to the billowing ankle length skirts that Leona would wear. She picked out one that she no longer wore, and put it on the bed with the underwear. Moving on to tops, She quickly found a backless halter top that had been too small for her, she had seen it in a store and bought it before trying it on. For most situations it was awful and served no purpose, but for her plans for tomorrow it was perfect. To finish off the look Ahri grabbed a set of black stockings. She almost snagged her hand on another item in the wardrobe, but missed it by an inch. She had to make sure not to catch on the material, as a single tear or loose thread could ruin her plans.

She looked over her items of choice and made her plan for 'improvements'. With scissors in hand, she quickly got to work.

Leona showed up the next morning with regret in her mind. She really hadn't thought the deal through and was not at all prepared for what Ahri had to offer. The night before she lay awake and pondered all of the awful things that Ahri could make her wear, going over a list in her head of nightmarish situations that could arise from being seen in the outfit that the kitsune had prepared. In her hand Leona held a bag, filled with clothes that she had chosen for the fox. She took this as a much more practical situation, and had decided to pick out items that Ahri might actually find useful. She knocked on the door and awaited her demise.

Ahri opened the door with a wicked smile on her face, obviously too happy about what was going to happen next. Leona sighed and stepped inside, preparing herself for the worst. She found herself glad that she had, as she immediately recoiled from the outfit that Ahri had laid out on her bed. She took many artistic liberties with her scissors, and had taken off an abundant amount of material from the already revealing clothing. The skirt was less than half of its originally length and the white halter top was cut off immediately below the chest, with the straps on the back stitched back on to make it still wearable.

"You can't honestly be making me wear this all day, right?" Leona asked, praying for a positive answer.

"You made the deal, I can make you wear whatever I want." Ahri said, a little bit too happy about the whole situation. "It's not going to get any better, so you may as well start now." She added,

Leona saw that there was no escape for her, and begrudgingly began to change over her outfit. She started with the panties and stockings, noting how she was going to be picking cloth out of her ass for the whole day. The front felt a bit breezy and exposed, but she would have to live with it for a day. The skirt went on next, followed by the top. She put her shoes back on and stood up, inspecting her reflection in Ahri's large full length mirror. The top came in too much on the sides and frankly looked ridiculous with her bra sticking out, and Ahri had cut the skirt so short that there was a hint of black underwear coming from the bottom. Ahri sat in a corner of the room, watching Leona squirm in her new clothes. In a short span of two minutes she had already adjusted the fabric wedged firmly between her cheeks a total of eight times.

"Now for my outfit." Ahri said as she stood up, going over to inspect the bad that Leona had brought. She pulled out a dark purple u-neck shirt, which hung loosely off one of her shoulders when she put it on. She then pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans, which hugged her legs but not to the point of being uncomfortable. Simple white socks and functional shorts style underwear completed the outfit, making it much more comfortable and practical than most of her daily choices.

Leona was still seated awkwardly on the corner of the bed, obviously embarrassed and apprehensive of what the day held for her. As much as Ahri loved to watch her squirm in her seat it was time to save her from the crushing misery weighing down on her shoulders. Ahri walked back over to her walk-in closet and delicately pulled a final item off of its hanger. She had nearly ripped it the other day, so sh was extra careful as she handled it now. She walked out of the closet to see Leona pouting with her arms crossed.

"You can take that off now." Ahri said in a gentle tone. Leona was visibly shaken, and it was time to help clear the wrinkles that Ahri had caused. Leona looked up in surprise, caught off guard by her early dismissal from her horrid day.  
"That's it, you just wanted me to wear it for ten minutes?" She said, a hint of doubt in her voice.

"Well, you only have to wear THAT for ten minutes. You didn't think I'd actually make you go out in public dressed like that, did you?" Ahri said lightheartedly. "I know my tastes can be different than yours, but not quite that bad."

Ahri put down her new item on the bed for Leona to examine. A single wide shoulder was attached to the dress, coloured in vibrant yellows fading into a deep orange. It blended into a pure black as the fabric moved down to the mid-chest area, with gold trim contouring the luxurious material. The side opposite the shoulder extended down further through the leg section, while the other side was cut high, the seam resting in line with the wearer's hip. It was complete with a set of elegant black heels, which Ahri made sure to get in a low rise so as to not cause the Solari warrior too much discomfort. Leona was shocked at the dress's beauty, still surprised by Ahri's change of heart.

"I though the whole point of today was to put me out of my comfort zone." Leona said, questioning what Ahri could have done to the dress to make her day awful still.

"That's exactly what I'm doing. I've, like, NEVER seen you wear any nice clothes, so this is way out of your normal range."

Leona wasn't sure whether to be insulted or relieved by the kitsune's comment, but decided to go with the flow and accept the fact that Ahri wasn't actually trying to make her life a living hell.

"I didn't really have much planned out for the day other than dinner tonight, so you may not want to put the dress on quite yet. It would be a bit awkward for walking around town, you know? Let's find you something else to wear for now."

Ahri pulled Leona back into the closet to find something more suitable for the afternoon, emerging with a button up shirt and pair of shorts that were not too foreign to the support champion. Leona went to pull off the overly small panties to change into her more comfortable clothes, but was stopped by Ahri's grasp on her wrist.

"Hey now, I can still make you wear at least one thing you don't like. Let me have this little pleasure this once, alright?" Came Ahri's sultry tone, obviously using her charm to help persuade the objecting Solari. Leona didn't necessarily want to be fiddling with the dainty fabric all day, but Ahri's magic was powerful and hard to resist. She caved in after a few seconds and put on her clothes with the block mesh still wedged uncomfortably in her ass. Hopefully they wouldn't be doing too much walking.

Of course they ended up walking almost the entire day.

The day went by relatively quickly, the two champions went out for brunch at a nearby breakfast grill, before proceeding to visit a professional massage salon to treat Leona. Ahri's skills may have been impressive, but nothing could quite match what the professionals were able to do with their hands. However, that did nothing to stop Leona from pestering Ahri the very next day for yet another back rub.

At around 5pm they went back to Ahri's room to get changed for the dinner that the kitsune had booked for 6:30. Ahri disappeared into her room to retrieve her own outfit, leaving Leona to work her way into the dress that had been left out for her. It fit surprisingly well, Ahri must have gotten it tailored when she bought it. The League stored every champion's specifications to create carbon copies for matches, so it wouldn't have been hard for Ahri to obtain Leona's measurements with a bit of her charm. The shoes slid on easily, being secure on the Solari's feet without feeling constricting After putting on the clothes she went to find the bathroom to apply some light makeup. Ahri appeared a few minutes after, wearing a short black strapless dress, which displayed her figure without being too revealing. Her hair was tied up, with some of her bangs hanging down and framing her face perfectly.

"Ready to go, oh great warrior." Ahri teased, referencing the fact that Leona had dressed up for an event close to twice in her life. The rest of her time was always spent wearing armour or training gear.

"Whenever you are." Leona replied, exiting the bathroom and making her way towards the door.

The two champions exited the residential district of the Institute, making their way towards the more upscale area located near the centre of the city, in a secluded corner reserved for only the wealthiest businesses and a few lucky summoners. Ahri had not yet hinted at what restaurant they were heading for, but Leona was shaking in anticipation none the less. She had rarely been through this part of the League as she never had much reason to be spending such exuberant amounts of cash on mostly meaningless items. Clothing boutiques and big corporations lined the sides of the road, while a few fancy cafes were scattered around the district for the rich and spoiled to relax with their $12 coffees. Nearing the center of the district was where the taller buildings resided, revealing skyscrapers and towers that stood out amongst the Institutes constructs. Located in the very epicenter, surrounded by massive glass buildings yet still dwarfing them was the famed OutReach Spire. It was a skinny building with a flattened glass dome on top, looking quite like a massive lawn dart stuck into the concrete below. It housed multiple businesses within, each taking up their designated floors, usually between 15-20 per corporation. In the glass dome on top was the prize of the spire, a luxurious and secluded restaurant which even the wealthiest of people could only visit periodically without losing enormous amounts of their money. Leona broke eye contact with the building, knowing that she would be thoroughly disappointed if she put her hopes on Ahri putting in a reservation at such an expensive reservation. Her eyes wandered between the other possibilities in the city district, with fine cuisine from all corners of the world. Ahri, however, strode right past all of these establishments and made her way towards a set of large glass double doors at the end of the street. Upon approaching the base of the building Leona read the golden sign, with bold letters stating "OutReach Spire".

"Ahri, where are we headed to?" Leona stammered, not able to believe that Ahri would keep walking through the doors.

"Where does it look like? I put in a good word some of the higher-ups, promised them the night of their lives. Really I just got them drunk until they passed out and left a note with lipstick marks on their bed. They probably think I actually slept with them, so I got a pretty great deal on our reservation."

"How good? This place is way more than a champion can afford, even at a discount!"

"Free." Ahri said with a smirk, enjoying the sight of Leona's jaw dropping at the bewildering events.

Ahri marched through the lobby of the building with a sense of confidence, dragging a stunned Leona behind her across the smooth polished floor. Upon entering the elevator in the middle of the room, they began the long journey to the top. The doors opened to a sparsely furnished restaurant, which left plenty of space between customers. The black furniture was clearly made of the highest quality materials, which gave off a nice contrast with the red carpeted floors. A waiter stood by a wooden pedestal with a reservation booklet to keep track of visitors, greeting Ahri and Leona as they stepped into the restaurant. After checking for their names she led them towards a table for two against the window of the dome, giving a beautiful view of the darkening sky. Strategically placed shrubs were placed in large planters behind them, blocking their view of any other customers in the building. They were completely hidden from sight, giving them perfect privacy for their dining experience.

A waiter came by after a short few seconds with a selection of wines, presenting them to the two females. Ahri ran her finger over the labels before choosing a bottle of red wine, allowing the waiter to uncork it before placing it on their table. Leona eyed the bottle cautiously, wondering how much of a bill Ahri had just racked up.

"Don't worry about it, when I said we got this for free, I meant EVERYTHING is free."

Ahri was right. After a muti-course meal, full of some of the restaurants most expensive items, the receipt displayed a price tag worth thousands. Underneath, in smaller print, there was a label marked "DISCOUNT: %100" resulting in the final price being a whopping $0. Ahri left a tip of 120 gold, not wanting to leave the restaurant without paying anything, and the two made their way back home. It was dark out, as they had been in the restaurant for a very long time. Ahri took Leona around a scenic detour, allowing them to take in the fresh night air as they walked around the outskirts of the institute. They walked in silence for a while before Ahri stopped at the base of a cliff, staring up at the maple tree located on the top.

"You've heard the stories?" Leona asked, breaking the silence that had lingered for the past few minutes.

"I have. It's nice up there, you know? I climbed the side last time and went to the top. I'd like to go again, but it's hard to get up." Ahri responded, eyes still focused on the top of the cliff.

Leona joined her in her viewing, before the two eventually left and continued on their way home. Arriving at the junction dividing the rooms into countries, Ahri split off to the Ionian side, expecting Leona to make her way into the corridor designated for champions unaffiliated with a country. However, the Solair followed her down towards the fox's room.

"You don't live here, do you?" Ahri said with a grin on her face.

"I know, but I have to drop off this dress. Plus I left all my clothes in your room."

Ahri unlocked her door and let the Solari inside, both of them removing their formal wear and changing back into more comfortable clothes for the night. Ahri crawled into her bed wearing a baggy t-shirt, snuggling into the covers and hoping that Leona would remember to close the door on her way out. However, she didn't hear the sound of the door closing, and instead felt a warm body lie down on the bed beside her.

"My room's too far and it's late. I'll just stay here the night." Came Leona's tired voice, muffled from the tails that she had curled up against.

"Well, thanks for asking first." Ahri chided, getting no response as she realized her companion was already fast asleep. She accepted the fact that she wouldn't be alone tonight, not that it bothered her, and soon found herself succumbing to sleep as well.

A fair distance from the residential district, a slim woman levitated her way back down to the ground from atop a cliff face. Janna let the wind below her disperse as her feet touched the ground, protected from the cold by her warm shoes. She peered out of her thick jacket to see the light in Ahri's room turn off.

" _She was dressed nicely tonight, I wonder where they went. Whatever, the place doesn't matter. I'm just glad to see her having a good time with someone else, a bit more modest than before as well. Looks like my favour for Leona really was worth it."_


	5. Past

Janna awoke the next morning to the sound of her cell phone ringing, which she had foolishly left on during the night, not anticipating any calls to interrupt her slumber. Picking up the phone she noticed that the digital clock displayed 1:23AM, an hour that only a few people would be awake at. The caller ID showed Leona's name, triggering Janna's memory back to the favour that she had promised the Solari warrior.

"So, how's the raid going so far?" Leona asked, fully aware that nobody had broken into Dianna's room yet, since she was watching the window intently.

"Do I really have to do it tonight…" Janna grumbled, unpleased by the fact that she was not asleep at such a late hour.

"Do it tonight or you're going to be the one who's missing some clothes in place of my sister, now get going, she gets back around 2:30." Came Leona's reply, who was amused at the wind mage's attitude but also annoyed that she was being so reluctant.

After hanging up the phone, Janna stumbled out of her room and made her way to the dorm hallway. Clad in fleece pants a tank top she stumbled to the outdoors, where she then walked across the damp grass towards Dianna's window. The dew clung to her feet, attracted dirt and getting the bottom of her pants wet. Had she been thinking she would have put on shoes before leaving, but in her tired state thinking was no really an option. She eventually reached Dianna's window, which was easy to spot since it was the only one left open in the chilly night air. Focusing her mind for a few seconds, Janna spun the air beneath her to cause a small gale that lifted her gently towards the open window. She pushed the window aside and sat down on the ledge, brushing the dirt off her feet so that she didn't leave any tracks in the Lunar warrior's room. She slipped inside and gently touched down on the carpeted floor, careful not to make any noise in case Dianna was still around. She padded over towards the large dresser at the foot of a queen size bed, opening the drawers until she found the one containing Dianna's precious undergarments. She pulled a black garbage bag from that had been secured in the waistband of her pants, filling it with the clothes in front of her. Pulling out her phone, she rang Leona's number.

"I'm in Dianna's room," Janna whispered "but where the hell is the pendant."

"Oh, that silly thing?" Leona replied in a lighthearted voice. "I made that up, just as a way to convince you to do all this."  
"WHAT?!" Janna hissed, clearly furious. "YOU LIED TO ME SO THAT I WOULD GO ON A F**KING PANTY RAID?"

"You seemed reluctant about it and I needed to convince you, besides, Ahri and I had a great time, so wasn't it worth it?"

"IT ABSO-F**KING-LUTELY WAS NOT WORTH IT. I'LL PUT YOU HEAD ON A PLATTER WHEN I GET BACK."

Leona hung up abruptly, trying to avoid the fury of the winds but at the same time adding to Janna's rage. The mage in question swung the bag over her shoulder and hopped back out of the window, carrying herself down to safety with her winds. As she touched down she noticed someone standing in the grass next to her. Turning, she eyed the mysterious person cautiously. The figure in front of her looked up at the window, then back down at the woman who had come out of it, then at the black bag.

"Leona sent you." The figure stated, voice void of emotion.

"What makes you think that?" Janna replied with caution, slowly backing away, hoping the person wouldn't notice.

"'Cause she's a bitch." Came the reply as Dianna stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

Janna nearly went into shock, but recovered and began to sprint away from the Scorn of the Moon. She summoned a wind elemental to give her a speed boost, floating on a gust of wind to make as much distance between herself and Dianna as possible. The slammed through the entrance doors and raced back towards her room, hurriedly opening her door and slamming it shut behind her, turning the deadbolt into place. Releasing a breath she didn't know had been held, she made her way back over to her bed, setting down the garbage bag and opening her dresser to change her wet pants. Instead of finding clothes she only found a note. Scrawled upon it was a short yet sinister message.

" _Give me back my fucking underwear. Until you do, I will hold on to ALL of your clothes._

 _-Dianna"_

Janna sighed, realizing that Leona had dug her into an extremely deep hole. She pulled off her wet pants and made her way under her sheets, praying that in the morning everything would just go back to normal.

* * *

Of course it didn't, Janna just woke up to the same empty dresser as the night before. She pulled on her fleece pants again, which had dried out during the night, and stepped out her door, heading towards the cafeteria in hopes of finding someone to lend her a change of clothes. She stepped out of her door and found the hallways to be strangely empty, when they were usually bustling with champions when she woke up. She walked down to the dividing room in the dorms and glanced at the large clock hanging on the wall. It read 10:02, nearly two hours after when she would have normally woken up. Her nighttime visit to Dianna's room had interrupted her sleeping schedule, and the cafeteria would be closing down soon, thus reducing her chances of finding anyone to lend her some clothing. She was about to rush to the mess hall before breakfast closed when she noticed Ahri and Leona stumbling out of the Ionian hallway, obviously dishevelled from a combination of a late night as well as copious amounts of alcohol exiting their bodies.

"Oh thank god you guys are here, I need to borrow some clothes for today." Janna said, relieved that she wouldn't have to be searching the League in her PJ's.

"Let me guess, Dianna stole all of your clothes?" Leona said, a cocky grin on her face.

"You know this would happen, didn't you." Came the deadpan reply from a clearly displeased wind mage.

"Yes, but there was no point in warning you, She would have gotten what she wanted even if you had been prepared. Now all that's left to do is to see if you or Dianna breaks first."

Janna was already in the mood to break first, and felt that she owed nothing to the Solari warrior.

"I've already decided to break, now could you just lend me some clothes please?"

Leona seemed lost in thought for a moment before she replied, formulating her plan carefully.

"Well, since you're not being very loyal there's nothing that I'm willing to give to you, but I'm sure Ahri has an outfit she could lend for the day." Leona said in a teasing voice, hoping that Ahri was catching on to her idea.

"Fine, anything, I just need something to wear."

Minutes later Janna was actually given something to wear, but it wasn't much better than her pajamas. After changing out of her dirty fleece pants and tank top, she found herself in the same outfit that Leona had worn yesterday morning, only this time she actually had to wear it for the full day, rather than being given something else to put on. Unless she was willing to take her clothes back from the scorn of the moon, there was nothing else that her two friends would give to her. Leona was still waiting for Dianna to com begging for her clothes back, and until that point she would leave no mercy for the victimized wind mage.

The trio made their way through the streets winding their way through the institute, Janna doing her best to hide herself behind the two champions in front of her. They eventually came to the small cul-de-sac, where Ahri had first met Sona, returning to the café once more for a late breakfast. Sona was nowhere to be found this time, but Janna was glad since it gave her some privacy in her current state of embarrassment. Each of the three champions made their way up to the front counter, ordering their meals and before sitting at a table in the far corner of the café. The store owner brought over their plates after a few minutes before leaving the group to eat in peace. Leona looked tired and spaced out, picking at her food rhythmically and managing to miss her mouth more than once. Janna ate with on hand, the other doing its best to cover any exposed areas in case another customer came in. Ahri was the only one who seemed completely focused on her food, as she wolfed down a breakfast of steak and eggs, with a side of hashbrowns. She finished first, cleaning her plate to a nearly polished finish, and patiently waited for the other two to be done with their meals. Before they could finish, her phone began to ring. Sona's name was displayed on the caller ID, which confused the gumiho. Why would a mute be calling her? She answered it nonetheless and put it to her ear, not sure what to expect. Of course, there was only silence. The call was eventually hung up by Sona, before Ahri received a text message.

" _Sorry about that, for some reason I thought our mental connection would hold over a phone. Anyways, meet me by the portals as soon as you can."_

Ahri wasn't quite sure why Sona would want to call such an abrupt meeting, but she went with it anyways. Excusing herself from the table and bringing her plate up to the front counter.

"Sorry guys, I've got to go. Sona wants to meet with me."

"No problem, we'll see you around later." Came a tired reply from Leona, her words slightly muffled as she stifled a yawn.

Ahri exited the café and made her way quickly towards the Institute's portals. Whatever Sona had wanted to meet about sounded urgent, and she wasn't about to leave a friend waiting for her. She had never actually been to the portals, since she never had a reason to go anywhere other than the districts in the Institute. She got lost for a brief moment, but soon found herself back on the right track, guided by a large sign that pointed towards a circular building. Large glass windows lined the sides of the steel building, giving off a multi-colour glow from the portals within. Stepping through the glass sliding doors at the entrance, Ahri was greeted by a set of guards, preventing any unwanted visitors going in or out of the portals. Pulling out her wallet and flashing her Champion ID card, Ahri was granted passage into the large room. Lined up on the curved walls were portals to each of the main cities, granting champions and summoners easy access to their homes or places for vacations. Sona was waiting for the kumiho on the far left side of the room, next to the Shadow Isles portal. Ahri was hesitant to walk over due to the fact that the maven was near an entrance to such a volatile place, but Sona beckoned her over so she went nonetheless.

" _I have someone here that I want you to meet. He's one of my support friends, I think you two would get along great."_

Ahri never did much studying on the Shadow Isles residents, but she was relatively sure that she didn't want to meet any of them. She had no choice though, as the portal in front of her began to glow, signalling a newcomer's entrance. Slowly emerging from the portal came e relatively large being, clad in a heavy black jacket which hung to his feet. Green flames licked the floating skull hat made up his face, while he carried a wicked blade in one hand, with a lantern in the other. Ahri was taken aback, she had only meet seen Thresh a few times outside of the Rift and had wished to keep it that way. She tried to read his soul, scanning for any malicious intent. Strangely, she was not able to read the warden's soul, instead only being able to pick up on the hundreds of soul signatures being emitted from his lantern.

"Surprised?" Thresh asked. "I don't have a soul for you to read, but I can still read yours without issue."

Ahri was indeed surprised by this info, she was unaware that there was another person in the League with similar abilities to her.

" _That's why I wanted you to meet him."_ Sona voiced through her mind, clearly reading Ahri's thoughts.

Ahri felt uncomfortable in this new situation. In front of her stood two champions, both of them able to read her thoughts and emotions at will. Usually it was the other way around, with Ahri doing the snooping without people noticing, reading their feelings and using it to manipulate them with ease. With the tables turned she felt vulnerable, especially since she wasn't able to read the soul of the warden. In an attempt to better understand the strange undead man, she dived into the thoughts of the souls residing in his lantern, only to be met with a torrent of pain and agony. She immediately regretted her decision, as those within the lantern only felt an eternity of anguish, trapped inside of the glass confines and being subjected to an endless supply of torment. She felt frightened by the wardens' presence, knowing that she could be one of those unlucky souls if she made a wrong step.

" _Listen Ahri, I know his methods are unorthodox, not to say that yours aren't, but he is a polite man with no ill intentions. Those he tortures are only the damned which are banished to the isles, you are not at risk."_ Sona's calm voice rang through Ahri's mind, attempting to soothe the frightened fox to no avail. _"At least give him a chance, just this once. I think you two will get along fine."_

With that the maven disappeared once more, leaving the two soul harvesters alone face to face. Thresh was absent mindedly swinging his lantern to and fro, while Ahri's tails nervously twitched behind her, her entire body tense and ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"So," Came the warden's voice, breaking the heavy silence. "what is your method? I have yet to meet someone else similar to me in this way."

"I-..I use the art of seduction. Men and women alike are most vulnerable when they think they're in love with me, it leaves their soul wide open and easy to take… What do you do?" Ahri asked nervously, not really wanting an honest answer.

"I torture my prisoners until their soul is begging for death, aching for the sweet release from the pain, only to be subjected to even more torment once they are dead."

She didn't know what else she expected, but she still cringed at his brutally honest answer.

"However, I don't let my life on the Isles affect me out here. I have no interest in tormenting those in the League, or at least most of the people here. That imbecile, whatever his name is… Raven? Dagon? No, Draven, that was it. He is one of the few that deserves a good flogging."

"What makes you think that?" Ahri asked, suddenly interested by Thresh's will to beat the shit out of Draven.

"He treats those around him like dirt, on and off of the Rift, when in truth he is below most of us. His public demeanor is atrocious and for the most part his treatment of women is beyond awful."

Ahri found herself quickly warming up to the Chain Warden over this connection that they shared, her hatred of Draven stemmed from nearly her first week in the Institute, and hearing someone talk about torturing him for his actions was grabbing her interest.

"Tell me more about how you hate Draven, I'm liking this conversation." Ahri said in her most sultry voice, wanting to see if her charm could affect the ethereal being in front of her. Thresh responded as the two began to walk out of the building.

"Well for starters he needs more than a few tips on personal hygiene, especially a referral to a good barber. Oh, and a tip for the future, I have no soul, so you can't charm me no matter how hard you may try."

Ahri cursed under her breath, realizing that the warden could most likely detect her magic whenever she used it. The two champions made their way down the stone street, not exactly sure where they were going but hoping that they would eventually end up somewhere interesting.

* * *

Unfortunately nothing on the streets caught their eye, and the instead ended up back in the League's dorm in Thresh's room, which was largely unused due to the fact that he already had a residence back on the Shadow Isles. However, it was still rather nicely decorated, but more importantly was the fully stocked mini-bar that he had installed in his room.

"I didn't know dead people could get drunk." Ahri said, eyeing the warden as he poured two tall glasses out of a metal shaker.

"I can't, but that doesn't mean my sense of taste is entirely gone." Thresh said as he carried over the glasses filled with a vibrantly coloured drink, obviously sweetened beyond all belief. Ahri took a sip and nearly chocked on the liquid. It was almost thick from all the extra sugar in it, with absolutely no resemblance to alcohol, instead tasting like Mountain Dew with added cubes of sugar.

"What the hell, do you drink this on a regular basis?!" Ahri sputtered, still regaining her composure.

"No actually, I had no plans to even touch this vile substance. I just assumed that this is what you would normally drink." Thresh said nonchalantly, his glass completely full without a drop of it having gone near his skeletal mouth.

"Why, just because I'm not a guy?" She said, slightly angry from the warden's assumption.

"Well, last time I had a female in here she nearly dies when I served her gin and tonic, yelling something about pure fire burning in her throat. I just assumed you would be the same."

The warden then scooped up both their glasses and poured them each down the sink, going back to the mini-bar and producing some less deadly drinks. He brought over two smaller glasses filled with scotch and set them down at the table where Ahri was sitting. This time he actually drank some of it, no avoiding it like he had done with the sugar water that had been disposed of.

"So, tell me. How do you actually collect your souls? You said you used seduction, but that's not very specific now is it?" The warden asked, diving once more into the art of soul harvesting.

"I use some magic as well to help coax my victims into giving up their life for me. I was brought into this world by taking the soul of a dying mage, and I need to continuously collect power from other people's life essence to maintain my form. I use magic to charm people, then when they're the most vulnerable I extract their soul, storing it in this orb." Ahri said, producing her blue orb, filled with her collected souls. Thresh studied the orb, listening in on the thoughts and emotions of the contents.

"They seem quite happy to be dead." He stated, "Very much unalike my mine. I don't exactly store them in such a blissful state."

"I know, I've heard. But why do you do it?" She asked, curious of the warden's intentions. "I need it to survive, but you seem to just do it for pleasure."

"Those who have been banished to the Shadow Isles are there for a reason, furthermore those who arrive in my hands are there because they truly deserve it. Or at least they do most of the time. I torture the same sort of people that I did back in prison, it's no different really. I've actually been reunited with some of the worthless people I used to whip in my past life. I make sure to give them special treatment now that I can torment them to no end, especially the ones that killed me."  
"Back up a second, what do you mean 'back in prison'" Ahri asked, interested in hearing about his past.

"I was… the worst sort of person. I led a secluded life, hidden away from the outside world. Spending my days in a locked concrete building, I was not locked behind iron bars but I may as well have been in a cell, for I almost never exited those prison doors. I never made contact with those outside for I viewed them all as weak and worthless, so instead I occupied my time by torturing the prisoners that I watched over. I told myself I did it because they were bad people who deserved it, but in truth it was likely just me unleashing my own insecurities upon helpless beings to make myself feel more powerful. The control that I had was intoxicating, and soon it became a passion for me.

"I became a master of all things related to pain, yet my own craft was eventually turned against me, the prisoners I once controlled revolted and used my own methods to lead me to demise. Perhaps it was for the better, I was truly scum in my living form. My afterlife has given me time to reflect on that, I cannot rid myself of the urge to inflict pain but I can at least use it on those who truly deserve the treatment."

The warden finished his story with a nonchalant expression, finishing his drink and eyeing a shocked Ahri with a bemused look.

"Surprised?" He asked.

"Well, I knew that you tortured people, but I wasn't expecting you to be so… philosophical about it." She replied.  
"Well, dear, when you have an eternity to reflect on your choices you tend to look much deeper into them. A few hundred years of thought can do wonders to your personality."

Thresh stood up and grabbed two fresh glasses, filling them with scotch and bringing the amber liquid back to where Ahri was sitting.

"Now, about your past, what brought you here vixen?"

* * *

A short two hours found Ahri stumbling her way through the dorm halls, being supported by the stable arm of an eternal spirit.

"You can't really hold your alcohol, can you?" Thresh said with a monotone voice, unimpressed by how easily Ahri let herself go over the edge.

"I can… H-hold my booze fine. I'm just.. tired today." She replied in a slurred voice, struggling to produce the proper words from her mouth. Ahri wasn't any stranger to drinking, but she never became very adept at maintaining her composure with any sort of alcohol content in her bloodstream. She would have loved to blame Thresh for giving her access to so many drinks but in truth it was completely her fault. The warden had warned her after her third glass, but she brushed off his words and poured herself drinks until she was too uncoordinated to hold a bottle.

Upon reaching her door, Ahri fumbled around her pocket and produced a key, which she promptly dropped on the floor. Thresh picked it up and unlocked the door, leading Ahri inside and towards her bedroom. He set her down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She was fast asleep by the time Thresh left her room, and it was only 3:30pm. Thresh sighed, Sona was right, she really was a handful. He still had hours left in his day and nothing to do, not even any fresh souls back on the Isles to "play" with. He set off towards the dorm exit, hoping to run into someone that would provide some moderate level of interest.

His prayers were answered faster than he ever imagined, finding Leona on the outskirts of the institute sitting on a grassy hill. She was wearing dirty clothes, with some hand tools sitting beside her and a path into the forest cleared behind where she was sitting.

"Good day, Leona. Any explanation on the recent destruction of the Institute's forest?"

"Hello, warden. If you must know I'm making a path to the top of the hill. It's more than a bit hard to access with all the bushes in the way, and I have an interest with what's at the top." Leona replied, voice tired and ragged from a dry throat. She had been working in the sun all day without much of a break, and the fatigue was easy to see.

"You're tired, go take a rest. I will finish your work for you." Thresh said, walking past the Solari warrior towards the dirt path she had created.

"You're not finishing that any time soon, I've been working for hours and I'm not even close to halfway."

Thresh brushed her off with a wave of his hand, before grabbing his scythe and throwing it as far as he could manage up into the forest. He felt it hook into the soft dirt and the top, and grabbed his chain with both hands. Mustering his strength, he pulled on the chain with more force than any human his size could manage. The scythe flew out of the forest a second later, leaves and branches billowing out behind it. Looking up the path he could see that there was still debris in the way, but significantly decreased, and everything that remained had already been cut from the soil, just waiting to be brushed aside. Leona appeared beside him and gazed upon his handiwork.

"Well…. I guess I should've called you earlier." Leona said dryly, clearly frustrated by the fact that this could have all been done hours ago had she just requested help.

"Unlikely that you would have called, even if you had known I could do this." Thresh replied.

"Why? I'm not that arrogant, I can still ask for help when I need it."

"No, not because of that, but because I have no phone or any other manner of contact." He replied as he walked away from the grassy hill, continuing on his merry way down the paved path. Leona watched his body retreat into the distance before returning to the path, clearing out the debris that Thresh had left.

Further down the paved walking path Thresh found himself with another one of the League's supports, however this time he had been anticipating and dreading. Janna made eye contact with the warden and began to walk towards him with a purposeful stride. Thresh sighed, not at all looking forward to the conversation that was inevitably going to happen.

"So, how did it go?" Janna asked, tone serious. "Was it worth it?"

"No, it was not at all worth it. Your puny reward was nowhere near close enough to make up for it." Thresh spat.

"Aw, come on, she's not that bad is she? I thought you might enjoy her company." Janna replied, feeling a sting from the warden's words.

"It's not that I didn't enjoy her company, I actually quite liked being around her. But I did things that could only be viewed as wrong. You wanted me to seek out her emotions? Well, I did it, but that doesn't mean I'm proud of it."

"I though you could just read her soul, you do that all the time."

"I can read raw emotions through the soul but I cannot see any of the fine details, or the causes for such emotions. When I read people it's almost entirely based off assumptions, an eternity of practice has let me become quite good at reading people's body language. However Ahri was difficult, she has become a master of concealing her emotions. I had her drunk to the point where she couldn't walk, just to get the information you wanted." Thresh was visibly angry, even though he was no longer human he still had a sense of right and wrong. Ahri didn't do anything to deserve poor treatment, like many of his prisoners did, but he had still followed through with the task.

"So, if you went to all these lengths, aren't you going to tell me what happened?"

"If I must…" The warden muttered, before taking a breath and continuing. "She does a fine job of concealing it, but no matter how hard you try to get her to meet new people she is still broken on the inside. When she first arrived at the League she had an incident with Tryndamere that I'm sure you've heard of. Ashe still hasn't forgiven her, and back when it happened she made sure to tell everyone in her social circle about how Ahri was nothing but a whore. On the Rift it never shows, but behind the scenes this group still views her as scum. She told me that their treatment reminds her of how she was dealt with back in Ionia, with villages of people chasing her away when she was stealing lives for her own survival. She's doing her best to abandon that past but with Ashe and her friends, Ahri is finding that task impossible. If you don't act soon it may actually break her, when she released this burden on me it seemed as if she was already on the edge. I am under the assumption that I am the only one she has ever told."

"You're assumption is right." Janna said. "I've never heard of any of this, I've even talked to Ashe before, and she said that it's a thing of the past now."

Janna furrowed her brow, clearly displeased with the situation.

"We have to get Ashe to forgive her." She said.

"A difficult task," The warden replied. "the queen is not one to forgive easily, her heart truly has been frozen into ice."

"I'll find a way, there has to be a way."

* * *

The way that Janna was looking for came sooner than expected. She found Ashe alone in the institute cafeteria, at the same time that Ahri and a few others had gathered for lunch. Sona, Leona, herself, and surprisingly Thresh were all present, enjoying their meal in peace, seemingly without a care in the world. Janna stood up from the table and made her way over to where Ashe was sitting, pulling up a chair across from the archer. Ashe looked up without saying a word, still chewing on her food, seemingly unable to care about Janna's presence.

"We need to talk." Janna eventually said, hoping the frost archer would actually acknowledge.

"I don't recall us having any unfinished business, is this really so important." Ashe replied in an arrogant tone.

"Yes, it is as it turns out. More important than you may be able to wrap your head around."

"Oh really? So important that you need to interrupt a queen's meal to deal with your little prolems? I have a waiting list for meetings you know."

"You listen her-" Janna was silenced by Ashe's hand, before the queen stood up to leave.

"Did you not hear properly? Wating. List."

In response a resounding slap was delivered across the archer's face, stunning her momentarily and knocking her confidence down a level.

"Listen here you little shit." Janna started, voice dripping with venom. "It may not seem important to yo but months back, you had a little incident with Ahri. She didn't know any better, it wasn't her fault Tryndamere didn't mention any sort of marriage, yet you went and spread rumours about her and alienated her from most of the League. She's fucking broken because of you, all because you think you're all high and fucking mighty and never forgave her. You're going to go over to that table right fucking now and talk about this, and if you don't, you're coming home to a big surprise tonight."  
Janna's threats were far from empty. She still needed clothes after Dianna stole hers, and was not going to hesitate from "borrowing" the robes of a queen for a few days.

Ashe stared her down for a few seconds, unsure of what to make of this situation, before eventually replying.

"Fine, I'll do it. Don't expect sunshine and flowers though."

Although not entirely satisfied with her answer, Janna let her go and watched the archer make her way towards the table where Ahri sat.

"Ahri, could we talk for a second?" She said, voice calm and collected.

Ahri looked up, startled by the queen's arrival. Ashe looked as if she and something important to say, and Ahri had her hopes set on what it was going to be.

"About that incident… the one when you joined the League," Ashe began to say. Ahri's ears perked up, anticipating the moment when Ashe would finally forgive her.

"I know that I've been holding it against you for a long time now, and I just thought I'd let you know,"

Ahri could feel the excitement bubbling up inside of her, she had waited for these words to come out for so long.

"…Nothing's changed, and it never will, you disgusting slut." Ashe's words were spat with malicious intent, burning a hole through Ahri's heart. The kumiho felt something snap inside of her, a fibre in her body that had been barely holding on ever since the incident. Ashe got up and left, leaving Ahri speechless. She was stunned, the champions around her stared at her, unsure of what to do. A small voice entered her mind after a minute.

" _Ahri… are you okay?"_

"… _I'm fine Sona, I just need to be alone for a bit."_

She got up and left, not saying a word to her friends. Leaving her plate unattended Ahri walked towards the exit of the cafeteria, heading down the hallway and out of sight.

"Should we follow her?" Asked a concerned Leona, worried about what Ahri may do.

"No," came Thresh's reply. "You will stay right where you are, I will go"

"What? You? A torturer from the Shadow Isles is going to help someone going through depression? I think we should reverse the roles here." Leona countered, almost insulted that the warden thought he was better suited for the job. She got up to leave but was shoved back down by a rough hand. There was no sympathy in Thresh's actions as he restrained the Solari, only a sense of purpose void of emotion. She didn't argue this time, letting Thresh continue on his way with no objections.

Although he could not see her, Thresh could feel Ahri's soul signature, following the source of energy to the outskirts of the institute. He felt himself closing in on her, following her to the base of a cliff. It was the same on he had helped Leona clear a path to the other day, fresh footsteps could be seen in the overturned soil. He followed the steep path up to the top of the hill, finally laying eyes on the kitsune, who was standing at the edge of the cliff. For the time being she just stood there, taking in the view of the Insitute. She shuffled a bit closer to the edge, toes hanging over the side of the precipice.

"Don't do it, Ahri." Thresh said behind her, voice calm and monotone.

"Why not?" She said after a moment, void of any sort of emotion.

"Because there are people who care about you, it would have a terrible impact on all of them, should you follow through with this."

"But do they really? Or is it just part of Janna's plan?"

The warden hesitated for a second, choosing her words carefully.

"Janna may have planned for you to meet them, but she did so for a reason. She would not have gotten you together with these people if she did not think that they would care about you." The warden said, attempting to remain calm to not set off anything in the kitsune's mind.

"You could just be lying." She replied.

"What purpose would I have to lie? I have seen more death than you could ever imagine, one more life has no meaning to me. I am simply laying out the facts."

"So you don't care what happens to me then?"

Thresh fumbled on his own words, he had slipped up. In an attempt to prove he was telling the truth he only managed to convince Ahri that she wasn't cared for. Anticipating her next move his hands shot to his belt, grasping his scythe and lantern. A second more delay and it would have been too late, as Ahri was already succumbing to gravity over the edge of the cliff. Taking two running steps Thresh leaped and landed stomach down at the precipice, his arms dangling over the ledge. Using his momentum he let loose his scythe towards the vixen below, wrapping the chain around her torso, careful to avoid having the blade connect with skin. Her fall was halted abruptly, mere feet above the grass below. The force from the chain stopping her caused an audible crack, splintering two of her ribs and cutting off her airflow. By the time Thresh managed to untangle the chain from her body, she had passed out on the ground. He ran back from the cliff, sliding down the steep dirt path. Sprinting over to her now unconscious form. Thresh scooped her up in a bridal carry and made haste towards the medical ward, careful not to cause any bumps that may upset her broken ribs.

* * *

Ahri awoke to the annoying beep of a heart monitor, attached to a clip secured to her index fingering, measuring the kitsune's heartrate. In an attempt to cease the noise and calm her headache, she pulled the clip off her finger, which instead threw the heart monitor into overdrive as it could no longer detect any heartrate at all. As far as the machine was concerned, she was officially, dead, which caused the intermittent beep to turn into one long, high pitched note. It made her headache worse than it had been, but luckily also alerted a frantic Soraka, who burst into Ahri's room only to find that the kumiho was very much so still alive.

Soraka disabled the machine, halting the incessant beeping and easing Ahri's head a bit. The kitsune was clad in a standard hospital gown, with her hair tied up in a ponytail behind head. The last thing she remembered was a terrible pain in her torso, and she lifted the gown to inspect her ribcage. It was bruised, but the ribs had been patched together Soraka's healing magic.

"It will take a few days to fully heal, but you'll be out of the hospital early tomorrow." Soraka said, pulling Ahri's gown back down before checking her temperature and blood pressure.

"You were out for a few hours, but you seem to be okay now. We'll run some tests later on to make sure that you had no brain damage, but I think you'll be fine. You never actually fully ran out of oxygen, but you're body shut itself down pre-emptively and didn't wake up for quite some time."

Soraka grabbed a cup from a nearby counter, filling it with water from the sink before placing it on a table beside Ahri's bed.

"If you need anything, press the assistance button. Food will come in an hour or so, and here's a remote to control the TV."

With those parting words Soraka left the room, likely to tend to another patient, leaving Ahri alone once more. She sighed and accepted her fate, as she realised that she still had another 18 hours at least of sitting in this shitty hospital room with nothing to do.

She was about to reach for the TV remote when her door opened once more. Thresh stepped through and made his way over to her bed. They were silent for a while, neither knowing what to say after their most recent encounter. Ahri eventually found words in her mouth, and broke the tension.

"I regretted it, you know? As soon as I went past the edge I realized that I didn't want this. I didn't want to leave the others behind, and life was just starting to get better." She said solemnly. Had the warden not been there, she would have died in that instance.

"I know." Thresh replied. "Your soul gave it all away."

"They really do care about you," he continued. "just because Janna had it planned out doesn't mean they're getting paid to be around you. They all stay there because they want to, nobody is forcing them to keep you company."

"I guess I just found it hard to accept." Ahri said. "Other than Janna I've never actually had anyone I could call a friend, so meeting everyone in just a week seemed suspicious to me."

"You need to learn how to trust again." Thresh said. "It's hard, I know. I went through it myself. When the only thing you have control over turns around and kills you, it's hard to trust other people, even after an eternity to try to change. It will all come in due time."

"I don't have an eternity."

"You don't need one, because you still have your humanity, which is much more than I can say for myself. And you have friends to help you along the way, you just need to have faith in them. Besides, everyone you call a friend now is coincidently a support, it's in their nature to help you."

"You're a support as well, but I'd never really say it's in your nature to help others."

Thresh considered how to respond to this, what she said was true. He really was the least "supporting" support that there was.

"I can be an adc as well…"

"Whatever you say, skully." Ahri replied with a lighthearted giggle.

"I swear to the Ruined King, if you call me that again you can cancel our acquaintanceship. Now, let's go tell the others you're not dead yet."

 **Author's note: I'm really unsure if I should rate this M yet or not, I mean nobody has died so far, but I think I'm pushing the boundaries now. Let me know if you think I should change it 0_0**


	6. Plans

The group as a whole were relieved to see Ahri well and alive. She was not yet fully healed, but given a few days she would be back to her normal physical condition. The issue that now presented itself was how they were going to deal with Ashe. Despite Janna's best efforts the frost archer was still, and always would be, an intolerable bitch. People flocked to her because of her wealth and status, but with that taken away there was not much appeal in being around the Queen. This was now the second time that she had thrown Ahri to the dogs, not caring in the slightest about the impacts of her actions. Once Ahri's healing process was done, a punishment was due. However, in the meantime, there needed to be some form of celebration for the kumiho's still living state.

Four supports and a fox soon found themselves around a large table in Ahri's dining room. They all had the funds to visit and upscale restaurant in the Institute, but none of them were in the mood to deal with any sort of large crowds, so they instead opted for the kitsune's cooking. Dinner at Ahri's, of course, meant too much meat and a lack of anything green, but her masterful chef's skills gave nobody any reason to complain. Years of living away from society forced her to learn to cook for herself, so she had picked up the abilities quite quickly. Dinner consisted of barbequed ribs, paired with bread and corn. The group ate in silence for the most part, being too occupied with the succulent meat to bother taking a break to talk. Near the end of the meal, Thresh eventually spoke up.

"So, any plans for everyone's favourite queen?"

Upon hearing the mention of Ashe everyone froze. It was a touchy subject that they were all trying to avoid, but subconsciously they knew that something needed to be done. Thresh just happened to be the one with a certain lack of empathy who felt completely comfortable bringing up the subject.

"There's not really much we can do, especially with all the rules that the Institutes has set." Leona said after a brief moment.

"The Institute has a ban on causing any form of physical harm against other champions. However, they never included 'general discomfort' in this category". Thresh said, a glint in his empty eye socket thinking of all the methods he could use.

"Well then warden, what do you have planned out?"

* * *

Thresh was no idiot. He knew that his conventional torture methods would be out of the question, and although he could take a guess at what a person's fears were he was no expert. He did, however, know people that were experts in the subject. Deep in the basements of the Institute, Thresh used his lantern to light up the dark corridors. Far below the surface and a long ways through the halls he found who he was looking for.

"What business do you have here?" Came a distant voice.

"Good evening, Nocturne. I have a small request for you." Thresh replied.

"I am no longer in your debt, there will need to be a favour on your part."

"If you hear me out, I believe that it will be satisfying enough to void me of any debt to you."

"Speak, then." Nocturne said, intrigued by the warden's ideas.

"I assume you've been through all of the champion's minds? There's someone who I need to… frighten."

* * *

Ashe was making her way down the hallway towards the training room when she felt it. At first it was a light heat, but it quickly turned into a sharp burning sensation against her rear. She turned around to punish whoever was trying to light her on fire, only to be met with a heavy thump from Leona's shield. The shield fell on top of her, trapping her frame to the ground before a set of chains constrained her to the thick metal. Ahri dispersed her foxfires before approaching the now immobile frost archer. Ashe struggled to break free but found her efforts to be futile. Ahri lay down atop the shield, putting additional pressure on the archer below and making it increasingly difficult to breath.

"Hey there Ashe." Came Ahri's sultry voice. "Have anything you want to say to me?"

Ashe debated her options. League rules stated that they could never actually hurt her, but for the time being she was unharmed and only restrained. It was obvious that Ahri was searching for an apology, and as much as it pained her, it was looking like Ashe would have to give it to her. She could feel her claustrophobia settling in as her breathing turned into short gasps. She hated being in tight spaces, and as of now she could not move and was trapped. In a matter of seconds she was desperate to escape, and finally broke under the torment.

"I'M SORRY, I REALLY AM." She cried, unable to stay trapped for much longer. "Please, just forgive me, it was a mistake and I really am sorry." She was sobbing now, her mind completely fractured from the unbearable pressure. In the background Thresh smirked, Nocturne hadn't let him down. He could barely make out the form of the living nightmare, lurking in the shadows cast on a nearby wall.

"Please…" Ashe continued to bawl. "Just let me go…"

A gentle look spread across Ahri's face, stroking the archer's hair, making motions to calm her down. She leaned in before whispering her next words. Ashe's breathing slowed, hoping that she would finally be released. Ahri's mouth was inches from the Queen's ear, her hair brushing Ashe's face.

"No." Came her soft voice. Ahri got up off of the shield and walked away from Ashe's prone form, not looking back to see the archer's desperate cries for help. She knew that Ashe didn't mean anything that she said, her soul gave it all away. Ashe would never forgive her, but at least now she had endured some punishment for her actions. Nocturne emerged from the shadows, satisfied with the show but still knowing that there was more he could do. He descended over top of a terrified Ashe, setting himself up to deal the final, crushing blow.

"Good day Ashe, it appears that you're a little bit stuck."

On one hand Ashe was scared beyond belief of the nightmare on top of her, as any sane person would be. But on the other hand he was the only one around that could release her.

"Please, help me up. I can't get out of these chains. I'll do anything for you, just let me out." Ashe said between muffled sobs.

"Anything?" Nocturne said, backing the archer into a metaphorical corner.

"Anything, please, just let me out."

Nocturne chuckled before replying, it was too perfect of an opportunity to not take it. Thresh had explained Ahri's story, and Nocturne was prepared to turn it all around on the petrified archer.

"Well then, I have but one request. Sleep with me."

Without thinking twice Ashe blurted out a sharp yes. She had no wish to have sex with such a disturbing being, but in truth she had no loyalty to Tryndamere and was fully willing to do quite literally anything to get out from her bindings.

"You disgust me." Nocturne snarled. "Ahri's no slut compared to you. Sex with a living nightmare? Good lord you're fucked up" He spat. One of his bladed arms extended towards her exposed face. The tip of the wicked edge placed itself at the base of her chin, forcing her head back to avoid the ethereal blade.

"What makes you tick, hm?" Nocturne pondered. "So regal, yet beneath all of your status lives a hypocrite and liar." The blade retracted from her chin, replaced by a clawed hand grasping her lightly by the cheek. Nocturne pulled the frost archer closer to his face, making sure she absorbed every word and action.

"I owe nothing to the fox, so don't misinterpret my actions for being those of mercy for her. No, I have my own reasons for toiling with you. I find great enjoyment in studying mortal's minds, always so fragile yet so complex. However, you are somehow one of the strangest cases I've seen. How is it that nobody is able to see through your fake exterior, elegant wallpaper stretched over a rotting corpse. Alas, I have no time for you now, but I will see you tonight." Nocturne finished his little speech with a faint cackle, before backing away from the Queen and disappearing into the shadows, not breaking eye contact with the terrified woman until her had disappeared from sight, returning to the underground where he would no longer have to deal with the daylight.

Ashe was left frozen, the emotional overload from the claustrophobia mixed with Nocturne's threat taking its toll on her mind and leaving her in a broken state. Most champions would be heading to lunch at this point, thus leaving the training quarters abandoned, and leaving Ashe alone. It would be a few hours until anyone found her, and she was not at all prepared to accept this fate.

* * *

Ahri on the other hand was more than happy to envision this outcome, almost skipping down the streets of the Institute towards the café in the secluded corner. She opened the door to the quaint establishment, once again taking in the plants and decorative furniture scattered throughout the small building. Holding the door open, for Leona and Thresh the three champions went over to a table by the window where Janna and Sona awaited. Thresh pulled over a second table to allow for everyone to sit together, getting a chair for himself after the rest had found their seats.

"So, how did it go?" Janna asked.

"You didn't hurt her, did you? I'd hate for you to get in trouble for this…" Rang Sona's voice through Ahri's head.

"It all went as we had planned it." Leona spoke up. "Nobody got hurt physically, but emotional? She was definitely hurt in that manner."

A waiter came by a few seconds later, taking orders from the hungry crowd surrounding the table. League matches were scheduled to start in a short couple of hours, and the champions were all eager to get their food and have it digested before having to kill each other on the fields. The waiter went back to the bar counter to drop off the orders for a lone cook standing by a grill, who began to franticly prepare the overwhelming quantities of food that had been requested. Back at the table, the group started off their meal with fresh coffee that had been delivered to keep them busy until the food arrived. Ahri was beyond energetic, shaking in her seat with her tails flying wildly behind her. Leona found herself picking a long, white hair out of her coffee.

"Excited much?" Leona asked, before dropping the strand of hair on the ground beside her. Ahri took notice and gave an embarrassed giggle.

"Eh, sorry about that. I guess I am a bit happy that Ashe is probably still tied up in the hallway." She replied.

"Was your feud with Ashe really that important to you?" Janna inquired. "I know it had an impact on you, but to this degree?"

Ahri thought for a second before replying, giving off a slightly sad smile to accompany her words.

"Having Ashe taken down a notch doesn't really solve all of my problems, but it gives me a sense that things are starting to improve. I came here to lead a different lifestyle, but my past still caught up with e and didn't really leave a good impression on most of the champions here."

Janna considered this for a bit. Taking into account most of the major champion groups in the League, Ahri did actually have quite a few enemies. Ionia was not a big fan of her for obvious reasons, and her issues with Ashe had given her bad relations with the Frejlord and any royalty in the League. After trying to catch Ezreal, she had put a bad taste in Lux's mouth and with that, most of Demacia was against her. Sona was an exception, but Sona found a reason to care for anyone in the League. Except for Draven, but Draven's just an asshole and frankly even Sona couldn't find a reason to care for him.

The only places that didn't naturally have a bone to pick with Ahri were Zaun, Noxus, the Shadow Isles, and Piltover. The first three options were not really places that Janna wished to be getting Ahri involved in, which left Piltover as the final option for strengthening her status in the League. Some action would need to take place, something that would leave a lasting impressions and help Ahri build more positive relations, something that the old Ahri would have never done. Janna was at a loss, there was no easy method that she could see which could help Ahri out. She decided to abandon those thoughts for the time being, instead focusing on the positive moment from Ashe's defeat.

Ahri, on the other hand, was finding it hard to completely abandon the past. She was caught up in the positive moment, but below the surface there was still a part of her that was worried about what would come in the future. Although her attitude was generally positive, she couldn't help but think about what still needed to be done in the future. There was time for that later, now was the time to celebrate with her friends. The food was soon delivered, and the group around the table dug into their meals.

* * *

Night came quickly once the League matches were finished. Ahri had been summoned to four matches that afternoon, leaving her tired but not to the point of complete exhaustion. It was dark outside, and most of the Institute's residents were fast asleep, but Ahri was not yet in the right mentality for rest. There was too much on her mind to let it find peace, so in an effort to put herself at ease Ahri walked the Institute perimeter, taking in the cold air and gentle noises of the night. Clad in a fur coat and pants, she walked slowly down a paved path with puffs of smoke coming from her mouth with each breath. After a few minutes of walking, she found herself at the base of Melancholy hill, the grass at the base of the cliff blowing gently in the breeze. Approaching the rock face, Ahri gazed at the top towards the tall maple tree. For a minute or two she failed to see the path leading up the side, with wooden slats forming a steep staircase up to the top. In the previous days Leona had worked tirelessly to finish her project, granting easy access to the top. The entrance was covered by an overhanging tree branch, making it difficult to spot by most onlookers, but after a while Ahri spotted the abnormality in the forest and approached the opening. Pushing the branch aside revealed the stairs which climbed up the side of the stone wall. Unsure of who had put the stairs in, but appreciating the thought behind the actions, Ahri began walking up to the peak of the cliff. She found herself once more at the top of the cliff, in the same spot she had emerged into before, but with much ore ease this time. She walked across the grassy plateau and approached the maple tree, sitting at the base of the strong wood. After making herself comfortable she became lost in her thoughts, mind filled with ideas of how she could fix her past with actions in the future. She didn't yet know how to reach the end goal, but after an hour she knew where to start.

Ahri woke up late the next morning, allowing herself to sleep in after her long night. She spat a few strands of fur out of her mouth and puled herself into an upright position, eyes still blurry and hair in a disheveled mess. She had woken up to the sound of someone fumbling behind her door, and after wrapping her blankets around her nude form she approached the door to see who was causing such a racket this early in the morning. Looking at the clock she took that thought back, 11:30am was definitely not early, she was just late to start. She opened up the door a crack and couldn't see anyone in the hallway, and upon opening the door all the way she still couldn't see anyone in either direction. Looking down at the floor revealed a letter that had been slipped under the door, the sealed envelope bearing a crest from the Frejlord. She closed her door and picked up the letter, carrying it over to her dining room table before opening it and pulling out a handwritten note.

"I fucked up, I get it, just stop tormenting me! Nocturne hasn't left me alone for a single second of my sleep since our last run in, and I think I'm starting to go insane."

Ahri snickered upon reading the opening lines, she had never sent Nocturne after Ashe but she could take a guess at who did. After regaining her composure she continued reading.

"If you really need some form of compensation to leave me alone, then fine. I'll reimburse you for the damages, any gift of your choosing within some reasonable boundaries. Just promise me that whatever you told the nightmare to do, you take it back and get him to leave my dreams. I'll be waiting in the cafeteria at 1:30, and as I said, ANY gift within reason.

With absolutely no love,

-Ashe."

The stars had truly aligned for her today, Ahri would have to thank Soraka for that later. Ashe was true royalty, so her "reasonable" gift would be worth more than enough for Ahri's plans. Last night she had devised the perfect way to redeem herself in the eyes of those that currently judged her, but it required large sums of gold. She could afford it after some more time in the League, but it would leave her bank account dry and that wasn't something that she really wanted. With Ashe's gift she would have enough money and some extra, and better yet, due to the way Ashe had worded the letter, she technically didn't have to get Nocturne to stop. Ahri dropped her blankets and rushed over to her bathroom to get prepared, but stopped suddenly when a bright light seared into her eye. She turned to face the source of the annoyance and saw a tuft of fur disappear into the bushes. She would need to make a quick stop before she visited the frost archer.

Ahri was walking to the cafeteria at exactly 1:30, causing her to be fashionably late as it required a few minutes to traverse there from the champion dorms. While she walked she brushed a bit of brown fur off the back of her hand, noticing some blood stained into her skin below. She would clean that off once she got to the cafeteria, she had more pressing matters at hand than clearing the remains of a peeping yordle off her hands. Pushing open the doors to the cafeteria, the kumiho found Ashe sitting alone in the far side of the cafeteria, visibly a mess even from a distance. She strode over to the Queen's table and sat down across from her, grinning at the sight of the sleep deprived archer. It was clear that she had only managed to sleep for a few hours in the past few days, and she had completely given up on making herself look presentable.

"Like I said, anything within reason." Ashe mumbled, her voice shaky and ragged.

"Well, I'm a bit undecided right now. You're going to have to give me a price range first, all right?" Ahri replied, putting a bit of her charming magic into her voice to soften the Queen, but not enough to completely warp her decisions.

"10,000 gold, enough to buy you any big ticket item. A room addition, luxury furniture, even one of those cars from Piltover." Ashe said, her eyes desperate for Ahri to accept the offer and turn Nocturne away.

"Nocturne's really scary, you know? I guess you do know, actually, probably more than I do. 10,000 is barely even enough to make me approach him, let alone speak to him." Ahri said, twirling a strand of hair in her fingers, appearing uninterested and absent minded to the archer. Ashe contemplated her options for a few seconds before responding.

"Fine! 50,000." Ashe blurted out, unhappy with the outcome but desperate for Nocturne to leave. 50,000 gold held nearly no meaning to her, she was rolling in more money than she could count. The issue was admitting defeat to Ahri, but in her current situation it was necessary.

"Sounds like a deal to me. Could you be a dear and write out a cheque?" Ahri said, pleased with the outcome.

Ashe grumbled as she produced a cheque book from her purse and scribbled down the information, before handing it off to Ahri. She stood up and stormed away from the table, only turning back to warn Ahri that Nocturne had better be gone within the next few hours. Ahri gave her a wink before leaving the table as well, heading over to get herself some food from the cafeteria. Loading up a tray, she sat down with her meal and pulled her phone out, making a rather important phone call to prepare a meeting later that day.

* * *

Ahri had promised herself that after the unfortunate events in the past, she would never again find herself in that wretched League souvenir shop. Less of a souvenir shop, and more of a sex store, she dreaded the thought of ever having to enter it again. Yet, here she was, arguing with the shop owner in the back office.

"What you're offering me is barely even enough to buy all the products in my store, let alone the cost of the building." The rotund man behind his desk said in an angry, near shouting voice.

"You mean all of the products that you can't afford either? We both know you're more than a little bit in debt and holding onto this store is only pulling you down deeper. If you take my offer, you come out on top and you can save yourself the embarrassment of filing for bankruptcy. I'm offering you more than this hole is worth." Ahri countered, looking over the numbers that she had found the previous nights. The fat man was seething with anger, knowing that she was telling the truth but not willing to accept that he was running a dying business.

"75,000 isn't enough, give me 100,000 and the shop is yours, WITHOUT the merchandise. That part, I get to keep."

"Are you kidding? The building itself is only worth 45,000 based off the Institute's pricing for this mall, 100,000 is over double. I could go build my own fucking store for the same price, in an even better location than this one is!" Ahri was getting frustrated with the slob in front of her, even more so when he couldn't keep his eyes off her chest. The fat man thought for a moment, eyes nearly shut but still open enough to get a clear view of her cleavage. He truly was as disgusting as she had thought, there was no better fit for someone running such a disturbed business."

"Fine. 85,000, and you keep the merchandise. BUT, only under one condition." He grumbled, finally realizing that he wasn't going to get a better offer, but still wanting to get as much as he possibly could. Ahri finally relaxed, knowing that she had won.

"Alright, what's your condition?" She said with a sly smile. The fat man grinned before replying.

"Dance for me, wearing items of my choosing, from my store."

The colour left Ahri's face completely, there were things in this shop that she didn't even want to look at, let alone have to wear. In the past she may have been up for this task, but in the present she had learned enough about dignity to know that this perverse old man was overstepping his boundaries. She had one last resort in case this sort of thing happened, and let fly a small pink heart directed towards the man's forehead. It hit him square in between the eyes, leaving him stunned for a second before he gazed back at Ahri, completely in her control. It would have been absolutely illegal to make him change the price in his hypnotized state, but it was also illegal to ask for sexual favours, so Ahri felt no guilt in forcing him to change his mind about that.

"85,000, I keep the merchandise, NO dance." She said firmly, making sure that the message was drilled into his mind.

"Yeah… sure… whatever you want." He replied in a slurred voice. "Just let me… fill out these papers."

He picked up a pen in his fat hands and began to fill out the legal documents that had been prepared for the meeting. His writing was a bit sloppy in his dazed state, but it was legible enough that most people wouldn't be able to notice. He finished by signing at the bottom, pushing over the pages to Ahri for her to sign as well. She read over the wall of text, making sure that everything was legitimate. It took a few minutes, but she didn't want to take any risks with the disturbed man in front of her. After confirming that everything was right, she signed her name at the bottom and handed over a cheque for 85,000. It was a large amount of gold for sure, but with Ashe's gift it was not nearly enough to drain her funds. She still had a comfortable amount of money tucked away, and if she played her cards right, she may even be able to make some extra money with the building she had just purchased. She allowed her magic to flow out of the fat man's body, reverting him back to his normal state, but with all thoughts of dances gone from his mind.

"All right then, the store and everything in it is yours." He said with a sigh. "I guess I was going under, but I still think 85,000 was lowballing it"

"Maybe so, but there wasn't anyone else willing to give you anything more, so we're both getting the best scenario here."

"Whatever…" he grumbled. "Here's all the keys to the store, they're all labelled, I'm sure you can figure it out. If you have any questions, don't bother asking me, I owe you nothing."

He proceeded to exit the office and leave the store, heading out of the mall and waddling off into the distance. Ahri was happy with her recent success, but not entirely sure what to do from here. Her original plan was to take over the store and get rid of all the demoralizing merchandise, hopefully redeeming herself in the process by getting rid of every champion's most hated store. However, she didn't really know what to do with all of her newly acquired products, or how to actually announce the closure of the store. After thinking for a while she decided to just put up closed signs on the front of the store, and leave the gate locked for a few days. Word spread fast amongst the champions, and if she put up a sign announcing the new ownership, maybe word would also spread that it was her doing. She found a printer in the corner of the office, and began to work.

* * *

As expected, it didn't take long for the message to be passed on through the large majority of the champions and summoners. Katarina had been the first to see the signs, luckily noticing the one proclaiming Ahri's ownership of the building. A message was printed below her name explaining that all of the old products were to be taken away, thus removing them from the institute and hopefully never to be seen again. Within a week she had become a topic of conversation throughout the League, many of the residents questioning what would be done with the store in the future. Ahri was sitting down at a table on one of the League's balcony, eating her lunch when Ashe approached her.

"Is that why you wanted the money from me?" She asked. She was much more composed than she was in their last meeting, Nocturne was only visiting once every two or three nights, making a positive impact on her sleep schedule. However, on the nights that he did visit, he made sure that she got not sleep at all. The days in between only gave him time to prepare more elaborate nightmares, but it was still better than being kept up every night.

"Yes, it was. I could have done it myself given some time, but it was a lot easier exploiting you."

"Although I don't really appreciate the fact that you actually said "exploiting me", I do appreciate that it at least went to good use. Like many others, that store caused nothing but problems for me."

Ashe went silent for a few seconds, contemplating whether or not she should continue the conversation.

"I guess I was wrong about you." The archer said. Ahri froze mid bite of her sandwich, last time this happened the outcome was far from positive.

"I made an early assumption, I didn't really know your purpose in trying to fuck my husband, and I didn't think twice about my actions. You didn't know he was married, did you?" Ashe said after a moment's hesitation.

"No," Ahri replied. "I didn't, and I had no intentions of having sex with him, only stealing a piece of his soul. You just walked in at the wrong time. Why apologize now though, after everything you've done?"

"Nocturne has conjured up some terrifying nightmares, but the worst of all was when he invited me for tea. He read my thoughts, my subconscious, my very inner being, and attacked me mentally. He pointed out all my flaws, all the wrongs I had done, everything bad about me, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. After he left I realized how bad I've actually been in the past, yet after all my abuse you used the money from me to mend a hole for every champion here, rather than just spending it on yourself. If I'm honest, I thought you were just going to expand your wardrobe."

"I kind of did in a way, but I don't think I'm ever going to wear the clothes I've inherited. I'll admit, I was tempted to take the money for myself, but I wanted to do some good in the world for once. I did things in the past that I'm not proud of, and it's finally time for me to right my wrongs." Ahri replied.

Ashe took a deep breath before responding, preparing herself to go against all that she had stood for during the past few months.

"I know it's a more than a bit late to say this, but I hope you can accept an apology from me. I've spread more rumours about you than you can mend on your own, I think it would only be suitable for me to fix them at this point."

Ahri was more than a bit surprised. Especially after the torment she had put Ashe through, she was never expecting a truthful apology from the archer. She did a quick scan of the Queen's soul to make sure there was no hidden malicious intent, and after confirming that Ashe meant no harm she put down her sandwich to face the one that had nearly killed her.

"I don't know if I can forgive you for everything you've done in the past, but I can at least accept that you're apologizing at all. Sorry doesn't fix everything, but I'm glad to know that you've recognized the fact that you really are a cold bitch."

Ashe winced at Ahri's final words, but the deep sting that they left was only there because she knew it was the truth.

"Thank you." Ashe said, turning away from the table to return to the buildings of the Institute. It had taken her a long time to accept, but in light of Ahri's recent actions she had seen that the punishment she had given the kitsune was unjust. She wasn't exactly a changed person, but a weight was lifted off her shoulders after giving the apology. She made her way over to the table at which she usually sat; there were rumours that she needed to fix.

Ahri watched Ashe disappear back inside with turmoil in her mind. She had no wish to hold any grudges; she wanted to leave any negative thoughts and emotions in the past, focusing instead on the positive in the present. However she wasn't quite ready to forgive Ashe for everything, and she wasn't sure if that time would ever come. Maybe it was for the best that she was trying to maintain neutral grounds with the archer, since as a queen she had a large influence on the League and its residence. Ahri shook the thoughts from her head and instead focused on finishing her lunch, she had done enough thinking in the past few days and wanted to relax for a bit now.

* * *

"What do you think she's going to do with it?" Was written on the note pad in Sona's usual elegant writing.

"With the store, or the products?" Leona asked. Sona rolled her eyes and tore off a fresh sheet of the notepad.

"With both of those."

"She'll probably sell off the clothing at inflated prices, there are some messed up summoners who would treat it like collectors' items. As for the store, your guess is as good as mine. Knowing Ahri it'll probably be a fashion store or something."

Satisfied with Leona's answer, Sona tucked away her note pad and set it down on the ground beside her beach chair. Summer was reaching its peak temperatures and the League's annual pool party was quickly approaching. The two supports were making the most out of the heat before the pool got too crowded in the upcoming days. For the time being they were alone on the pool deck, clad in swimsuits that had been picked out in the weeks prior.

"You know, I haven't actually seen Ahri for quite some time." Leona said after a few minutes of silence. Sona turned to face the Solari warrior before picking up her notepad once more.

"I'm sure she's fine, she must just be busy with taking over the store."

"It shouldn't take that long, it's not like she's completely renovating it right away. I'm a bit worried that something else is going on with her." Leona replied.

"What's going on with who now?" Came a voice from behind Leona's chair. Before she could reply her open mouth was stuffed with fur, preventing her from speaking but also blocking her air flow. She struggled against the grasp of the tails but they were surprisingly strong for how nimble they were. After realizing that Leona was running out of air, Ahri removed her tails from the support's mouth, allowing the poor warrior to take a large breath of fresh oxygen.

"You couldn't find any better way to introduce yourself?" Sona scolded through their minds.

"Come on, it wouldn't have been any fun if I didn't take the opportunity."

Sona let out a silent sigh with a gentle smile before sinking back into her beach chair, allowing the sun to lull her into a near sleeping state. Meanwhile, Leona was sitting upright on the side of her chair, still catching her breath from the kitsune's arrival.

"I guess I really do leave people breathless." Ahri joked before lying down on the chair beside Leona's.

"I hope you realize how awful of a joke that was." Leona grumbled after fully recovering. She turned to take in a proper view of what Ahri had picked out for the upcoming pool party, taking in a view of the red one-piece. The straps crossed on the front, leaving the back bare but guaranteeing some awkward tan lines on the kumiho's torso. Ahri caught the support looking and gave her a small smirk.

"See something you like?" She cooed. Leona gave her a stern look and turned away, giving no response.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ahri said, before settling into her own chair. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"So you can at least recognize that you went completely off the radar." Leona replied, displeased with Ahri's lack of contact over the past week.

"I didn't want to interrupt the rumours spreading about the shop, I figured that it would be better for people making decisions on their own without me trying to influence it. Plus, the only time I did really talk to anyone I got bombarded with questions nonstop, so really I just wanted to get away from all the commotion."

"Well, I guess nothing really happened while you were gone. The only interesting topic brought up around the League now is what's going to happen with the shop; exactly what you were trying to avoid. If you don't mind me asking though, do you have any plans?"

Ahri let out a deep breath before replying. It was subject that she was doing her best to avoid but she knew that eventually she would have to do something, otherwise she's be paying taxes on a building that served her no purpose whatsoever.

"The merchandise would come first… I think I'm going to keep one of every item, and auction them off. If there's only the one left for sale some nutjobs out there will pay a ton for it. On one hand I want to turn a profit from all the products I have now, but on the other hand I never want to see that shit ever again. The less copies of those products that there are in the market, the better. I think I'm going to hold an event to burn all the rest, something for all the champions to attend. Maybe it will make some people happy to see, and maybe it will help redeem myself. That is, if anyone actually came.

"The store is an entirely different question. I have a few ideas, but I'm not really satisfied with all of them. Part of me wants to go the obvious route and set up a clothing store,

"Called it." Leona silently congratulated herself for her prediction.

"but it would be too close to L'Era and they're a much more established store. For a while I could attract customers by saying it was a store run by a champion, but the hype wouldn't last long. I also thought of setting up some sort of café or restaurant, like the one in that secluded street where I met Sona, but it's a bad location for it and the atmosphere wouldn't be good enough to attract customers.

"The last idea I had would be some sort of spa and health boutique, but I would need more room than what I currently own, which would mean buying the store next door as well. Frankly, I just don't have the funding to do that."

Ahri looked lost in thought but also a bit defeated, everything she had planned out wouldn't work with the current situation. If she had more room, she could probably pull off the spa or restaurant, but it was expensive enough to just buy the one store, and the one next door was much more established and would cost even more. It was doable, but she would need to save for a much longer time, and hopefully be able to auction off the clothes for an exuberant amount.

"Why don't you ask the League residents for funding?" Leona proposed. "Like a crowd funding project, you could give a short free membership for anyone that pledged money, or if you did the café you could give out vouchers for some free meals."

"I thought about that, but I don't know how many people would be willing to put their money towards this. I'm not exactly a trained entrepreneur, so I'd question how many people would actually support my plans." Ahri responded in a dull voice, she wanted her plans to work but she couldn't see a path to make it work.

"Why not do it when you bun the clothes? Everyone will be in the right mood, and you could easily ask for donations, just say that you're looking for money to completely renovate the existing shop and get rid of all the sour memories." Leona suggested.

Ahri's ears perked up at this suggestion, it was really the perfect time if anyone showed up. She could make a few thousand gold depending on how many people came, and she could likely make a thousand gold or more for each item she auctioned off afterwards. With that money combined it could be a possibility, she just wouldn't get any of the leftover stock from the store next door. The building itself wasn't any more expensive than the one she had already purchased, it would just take more to convince the owner to move their business as they were already well established. After running the numbers through her mind, Ahri shot up from the beach chair and ran off back towards the living quarters. She left without a word, leaving Leona and Sona confused, but neither of the supports were willing to get up from their comfortable seats to chase after her. Shrugging, Leona pulled her sunglasses back on and drifted off to sleep under the beating sun, Sona following suite a few minutes later.

The next morning, bold posters covered nearly every billboard in the main parts of the Institute. Ahri had truly worked wonders, her advertisements had covered every busy part of the League in one night. Each poster bolstered large lettering announcing the upcoming bonfire, where all the leftover products would be burned in what would likely be the largest fire the League had seen. The event itself was scheduled for one week away, and at this point Ahri could only hope and pray that it would work out.


	7. Calm Before the Storm

With the main event less than a week away, Ahri was scrambling to prepare for the upcoming fire. Costs were a big factor in her plan, so she was taking extra precautions to make sure she didn't go over budget. Sona was willing to DJ for the event, which took off a large portion of the costs, but she still needed to book the property with the Institute, then buy food, drinks, and materials for the fire. Kindling would need to be gathered to get it started, then extinguishers and water would need to be brought in case the fire spread. Seating would need to be arranged for any tired attendees, and adequate area would need to be cleared for anyone in the mood to get FUCKING TURNT. Sitting in her bedroom with a phone against her ear, Ahri found herself stuck in an argument with an Institute manager.

"Why can't we just do this in person, I'm using up all my minutes on this call." Ahri whined to the manager on the other end, attempting to coax him into a face to face meeting.

"We both know why I can't do that, should I get within viewing distance of you, you'll just use your charm to get your way." Came the irritated reply. He had seen straight through Ahri's plans, giving him the upper hand in their debate. Ahri wasn't planning on completely overwhelming him with her manage, but her request for the fire was rather exuberant and not very likely to get passed by the Institute without major bribery.

"Fine, but can you at least give me a quote for the reservation? I really just want this to go through, I don't have enough time to spend arguing over prices." Ahri sighed in defeat, knowing that she would eventually just have to fork over the cash.

"2,500 gold for the whole night, in a location far away from any residential areas. We can allow you to host it near the open lake, across from the shopping plazas." He replied curtly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible so he could return to his… important paperwork. He wished nothing more than to put the phone down, allowing him to put all of his focus into the online poker match displayed on his screen.

"I can manage that, will it just be charged directly to my bank account?"

"Exactly, consider the space yours for the night, and don't bother interrupting us again." He responded before hanging up the phone, leaving Ahri feeling defeated. She now had the space, but she had spent much more than originally planned. With any luck the money she raised at the event would be enough to cover the costs, and still leave some for renovating the store. With any luck, a majority of the champions would show up, as well as a large group of newer summoners looking to test their luck amongst the champions of the League. If any younger summoners showed up, she would have no troubles coaxing a sum of gold out of their wallets. However, to attract any group at all, she still needed to finish her planning.

After making herself some lunch, Ahri left her room to try to calm her nerves. She was anxious about the event and unsure of what to do with all the remaining items that needed to be collected. Tables and chairs could be rented, but drinks and food would be expensive and possibly over budget after the price of the land rental. Unsure of what to do, she went in search of one her friends for assistance. Walking the streets of the Institute proved to be futile, with seemingly none of her companions around to help her. Returning to the dorms she check all of their rooms, not able to find a single soul in what seemed to be a barren area. She vaguely remembered Janna saying something about a trip to Piltover, but other than that she had no clue as to where her all friends may be. All except for one.

Standing in front of the swirling green portal, Ahri could feel her stomach implode on itself in sheer terror. The Shadow Isles was a place that she had never wanted to visit, and frankly she still didn't want to go there. However, this was the only area in which she was sure that she could find at least one of her friends. She had no clue where Thresh's house was, or if her even had a house, but it was at least worth a shot. Steeling herself, Ahri stepped through the portal and found herself atop a hill, with stone steps leading down towards the bottom. Off in the distance lay a decrepit castle, likely belonging to the Ruined King, with a few buildings placed in that general area. It was far away, but it was also her best shot at finding the warden. She stepped off of the portal's platform and onto the stone below, making her way down the long staircase with her blue orb clutched tightly to her chest for protection. Upon reaching the bottom, she fully took in her surroundings and looked for a path to take. There was only one option to walk along, a curving path that lead through a sinister looking forest. There was seemingly nobody in sight, so Ahri pressed forward and strode along the path at a brisk pace. Every once in a while, a glow could be seen from the forest, but nothing close enough to the path to present any real danger. Perhaps it was enchanted to grant a safe passage?

That thought abruptly left Ahri's mind as she realized that it most certainly was not enchanted, made evident by the lonesome spirit that lay ahead. It did not seem to be aggressive, but nonetheless Ahri was more than wary of approaching it. She took a few cautious steps forwards, unsure if the spirit would move or remain on the path. Running through her options in her head, the only one that seemed plausible was attempting to capture its soul with her orb. Ideally she could have gone around the spirit through the forest, but ditches were carved out on either side, with thick, dead plants littering the edges of the treeline. She slowly extended a hand forwards, moving her orb towards the ethereal being. She began to funnel her magic into the orb, readying herself to pull the soul in. Before she could attempt to capture the spirit, it made a sudden turn and lunged towards her. It was clearly not in the mood to be captured, and began to lash out at the kitsune. Ahri stumbled back from the attack, not being hit but knocking herself off balance. Taking one step too many left Ahri's foot hanging in the air, overtop of the ditch below. She lost her footing and crashed down into the dead bushes, getting caught in the branches and unable to move from her contorted position. The spirit above fled the scene after knocking her down, leaving her alone and trapped.

For the first few seconds Ahri struggled against the cold embrace of the dead branches, but it was to no avail. Allowing herself to give up the fight, she lay motionless in the ditch, doing her best to keep up her body heat and clutching her orb tightly. After contemplating the situation it was obvious that she would be here for a long time if she remained unable to escape, and it was likely that nobody would ever even see her. The only people that would be passing would be the Shadow Isles champions, some of which had no motivation to help her, and others who likely wouldn't even see her prone form. It was in this moment that Ahri realized that if she couldn't get out herself, death seemed to be a very real scenario. Her breathing started to pick up, but she did her best to calm herself in her perilous situation. To get out, she needed to think, and to think, she needed to be calm. Her arms and legs were pinned and tangled, while her clothes were snagged and constricting her movement. This left her only with her magic abilities. Charming the bush would have no effect at all, and performing a spirit rush required her to be able to move. Her orb didn't cause physical damage, instead relying on sapping the life from foes, meaning that it would have no effect on the environment around her. This left her with one blindingly obvious answer.

Summoning her foxfires, Ahri moved the flickering blue flames towards the dry wood around her arm, heating up the branch and causing a thin trail of smoke to waft into the air. Within seconds Ahri realized she had really fucked up. The foxfire lit the branch, what started as a small orange flame quickly spread down the wood. While the foxfire would be very effective at removing the bush and giving her free passage, she had forgotten that it would light the entire thing on fire, effectively roasting her while she tried to escape. She desperately tried to pull her arm back before the flame reach her fingertips, managing to move a few inches but putting herself in an even worse position than before. Ahri kicked and struggled, putting all of her strength into her efforts but still not able to escape from the bush. She could feel the skin at the tips of her fingers start to burn against the heat of the flame, fear striking through her body as she realized that this was going to be the end. She kept up her struggle, but only managed to place cuts along her body, still unable to remove herself from the bush. Finally she gave up, accepting the fate that awaited her. Yet the heat never came, but rather it disappeared completely, replaced by a cold silence.

"Any particular reason why you're killing yourself on my property?" Boomed a voice behind her. Ahri whipped her head back and came face to face with Hecarim's glowing figure. Normally she would be terrified, but in this moment she felt relief wash over her body.

"Yorick sensed that someone was about to die here, said something about the body being 'extra special'. Lucky for you he was too lazy to retrieve you himself, sending me instead." Hecarim explained to a stunned kumiho.

"'You're a horse', he said. 'You're designed for labour, now go fetch me a body' he said." Hecarim grumbled, mocking Yorick's voice, obviously annoyed by his current situation.

"Anyways, you're not quite dead yet, so I guess Yorick will have to hold out. Now, explain to me, what the actual fuck are you doing in a ditch on the Shadow Isles." He asked while pulling Ahri's body out from the bush below, hauling her up the path and placing her back on her feet.

"I- I came to visit Tresh." She managed to stutter, still a bit stunned but regaining her composure.

"Thresh? What could he have possibly done to make anybody want to visit him? You're really quite stupid, you know. Coming all the way out here and nearly dying so you can see someone hack apart a corpse." Hecarim chided, confused by Ahri's antics but also seemingly angry at her for risking her life.

"Get on then, foolish child." He said as he lifted Ahri onto his back, before galloping off down the path. Ahri clung on for dear life, not expecting the sudden movement and change in velocity. She found herself nearly getting bucked off into the ditch once more, before settling into a more comfortable position for the rest of the ride.

Hecarim soon came to a stop in front of a large manor, in which there were a few rooms with light spilling out, but with most of the house being dark and barren. Hecarim placed the kitsune back on solid earth, before knocking on the solid front door. With no response after a minute, Hecarim knocked again, putting a bit more force behind his swing. The door, which was built of sturdy wood, took the blow quite well. The rusted hinges, however, were easily knocked off, causing the door to fall over into the house. An unamused Thresh was approaching the entrance just as Hecarim deciding to play carpenter, arriving just in time to see his door fall apart yet again.

"For the love of god Hecarim, how many times is it now?" Thresh said with an audible sigh. Hecarim seemed deep in thought before replying.

"Fourteen times ever, two of which occurred this month, six of which occurred this year." He replied after tallying the numbers.

"And that makes up for pretty much every time you've ever had to knock on my door, so at this point I believe it would be rational to assume that you visiting really just means me doing emergency repairs."

"It would seem that way, but you could also just answer the door faster." Hecarim retorted.

Ahri meanwhile was standing awkwardly to the side, the warden still oblivious to her presence. After the two Shadow Isles residents concluded their bickering session, Ahri cleared her throat to get Thresh's attention. Unaware that there were any other visitors, the warden's eye sockets widened at the sight. She was bleeding from multiple cuts across her body, with her clothes torn and singed, accompanied by twigs and dirt in her hair and a burn mark on her hand.

"Dear lord what are you doing here?" Thresh said, surprised by her presence.

"I need a favour…" She mumbled in return.

"Given your current state you're going to need more than just one favour, now get inside before anyone else sees you."

A few minutes later, Ahri was resting peacefully in an oversized bathtub that must not have been used for decades. How the warden was able to get hot water was a mystery, but she wasn't about to complain about the relaxing treatment after her stressful day. Leaning into the back of the tub, Ahri worked furiously at picking leaves and twigs out of her tails, methodically cleaning each on without missing an inch. Thresh appeared by the side of the tub, interrupting her cleaning session and making the kitsune feel more than a bit uncomfortable. Thresh had no problems reading the discomfort in her soul, as it stuck out clear as day.

"Relax a little, Ahri, I abandoned any sexual desires decades ago. Tell me, why are you here?"

Ahri released her tensed muscles a bit, settling back into the soothing embrace of the hot water. Away from Thresh's gaze, slightly embarrassed with confessing her petty reasons for risking her life.

"I have a bonfire planned in a week, but most of the budget already went towards booking the area. I… I need drinks." Ahri mumbled the last part, realizing that she sounded like a teenager with no I.D., begging a passerby for alcohol to fuel their night. Thresh's face fell, giving Ahri a face of cold stone.

"You almost died today." He glowered. "For some free drinks?"

"I know, I know, it seems bad, but I couldn't find anyone else in the entire Institute. Plus, your dorm room seemed pretty well stocked." Ahri replied, trying to justify her reasoning.

"You are correct in assuming that I own more than my fair share, and I may as well assist you after you've gone through all this effort. Meet me downstairs when you're finished." Thresh said as he exited the bathroom, heading towards the staircase to go do whatever a torturer does in his morning routines.

Ahri finished off in the bath relatively quickly, by that meaning it only took her 20 minutes to clean out all of her fur. After drying herself off she inspected her clothes, they were torn and covered in filth, putting them back on would almost entirely ruin the long bath. She wrapped a towel around her body and walked downstairs, praying that Thresh might have something to wear in his manor. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Thresh observed her with a non-existent eyebrow raised, questioning the kumiho's choice of clothing.

"Is this really what you plan to wear around the isles?" He asked with a bemused voice.

"My clothes are pretty torn up, I was hoping that maybe you had something I could borrow." She replied sheepishly.

"And what makes you think that I would have ANY clothing suitable for you? I've been living alone for ages, you're the first visitor I've had from outside the Isles in… well, ever actually." He responded. From the far side of the room, Hecarim appeared, who had been busy fixing the front door.

"If you really need clothes I may have something, I can go run and grab it." He said, to both Thresh and Ahri's surprise. Seeing their startled faces, he made a desperate attempt to defend himself.

"What? Unlike some people I'm not completely antisocial, I've had visitors once or twice."

Ahri just rolled her eyes at his pitiful attempt. Hecarim snorted and turned to leave, heading back to his residence to grab the clothes. It didn't take him long to return on his swift legs, arriving back at Thresh's manor in just a few minutes with a large sack over his shoulder. He dropped it on the floor in front of Ahri, opening it and showing her the piles of clothing inside.

"Wh- Why do you have all this?!" she cried out in shock. When Hecarim said he may have something for her, he really meant that he owned an entire wardrobe of female clothing.

"Well, they're not really mine. Dianna showed up at my door one day and dropped this off, telling me to protect it and I would get paid. I have no real need for money, but I'm sure I could do something with it."

It then struck Ahri that everything in the bag was strangely familiar. Upon further inspection it was blindingly obvious that everything in here belonged to Janna. The wind mage had been living off of borrowed outfits and a few spontaneous purchases ever since Leona had confiscated the clothes she stole from Dianna, guaranteeing that Janna wouldn't cave in and give Dianna the clothes back. Ahri snickered at the sight before pulling out some items that looked suitable before disappearing upstairs to get changed. She came back a minute later in a simple t-shirt and jeans, electing not to use any of the wind mage's rift outfits in case she was seen anywhere else.

"So, where are we going?" Ahri asked, eager to see Thresh's stash.

"It's a short walk, towards the Ruined King's castle." He replied, turning and heading out the now repaired front door.

Ahri's face went white, the Ruined King may not be as powerful as he once was, but invading his castle for liquor seemed to be more than a bit risky. However, Thresh seemed confident, so she followed behind him, with Hecarim falling in line and walking with them towards the base of the castle. After reaching the courtyard in front of the massive stone structure, Thresh led the group off the path and through the dirt and grass. Dead leaves and blades of grass crunched under each step, Thresh's route leading them into a dark area of the yard. He stopped after a few seconds, bending down and grabbing the handle to a well concealed trap door. Opening the wooden door led to a steep staircase, which Thresh proceeded down, lighting up the chamber with his lantern. The staircase led to a wide underground room, with shelves lining each side. Ahri looked around in amazement, when Thresh said he was well stocked he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. Aged wine was found in abundance, with harder liquors resting at the far side of the room.

"Take enough to supply your little party, but don't get too greedy. Some of these bottles are worth more than your life." Thresh said, allowing the kitsune to select her prizes from the expansive room. She grabbed the bag full of Janna's clothes from Hecarim, and made her way to the end of the room. Fine wines would be wasted at the bonfire, it would be a shame to see them go without the people properly appreciating them. She instead selected some stronger drinks, placing them into the clothing bag, nestling them between the fabric to protect the contents. Closing the bag, she turned to leave the cellar, following behind Thresh and Hecarim to the top of the stairs.

"I assume that you'll be looking for some cheap beer to get people drunk on, so I'd suggest that you talk to Olaf. He sells what is likely to be the worst beer the world has ever seen, but it's cheap with a high alcohol content. Plus, for a favour he'll probably just give it to you for free." Thresh said, guiding the group back out of the courtyard and towards the path leading to the portal.

"Hecarim, would you be a good little pony and escort Ahri back to the portal? I have business to attend to." Thresh asked, not really giving Hecarim any option other than leading Ahri back. The centaur gave him a sharp crack across the head for the insulting remark, offsetting Thresh's skull large distance to the left.

"I'll take that as a yes." Thresh said as he straightened his skull, turning around and walking back towards his manor. Hecarim watched him go before lifting up Ahri with her bag onto his back, taking off down the stone path towards the League portal.

The return journey was much shorter than Ahri's first attempt at traversing the path, thanks to Hecarim's powerful legs and command over the spirits on the island. After getting dropped off in front of the swirling portal, Ahri thanked the centaur and proceeding through the green wall of magic. She reappeared back at the Institute, with her new possessions in hand. Her first stop would be to drop off the drinks, but she made a mental note to drop off Janna's clothes as well as soon as possible. Afterwards she would attempt to find Olaf. She was unsure where his brewery was located, but it couldn't be all that hard to find.

A few hours later Ahri found herself at the door to Olaf's brewery, the entrance decorated with the Graggy Ice logo. Upon entering the store, the first thing Ahri noticed was the unbearable smell. Drunkards lined the bar, the stench of their breath seemingly filling the entire room. Olaf stood behind the counter, polishing a glass and attempting to look important. Loud music was played through speakers hung from the ceiling, making it hard to talk in what would have normally been a relatively quiet room at this time of day. Only a few people could be found in the brewery, as it was still the afternoon and most sane people were waiting for the evening to get shitfaced. Ahri approached the bar counter and sat down on the cleanest looking stool, flashing Olaf a seductive look when he glanced her way. She had decided to take Thresh's advice, since she was attempting to remain within her budget as best as possible. She had changed back into a set of her own clothes, making sure to give herself the best chances at free beer from the overgrown frat-boy working behind the bar. After catching a good glimpse of her, Olaf sauntered over towards her seat, putting the glass her was polishing down on the counter and trying to hide the fact that he was intentionally flexing his arms whenever she looked.

"What's a fine young thing like yourself doing down here? You looking for something from me, maybe even looking for me?" Ola said with a grin, making Ahri cringe at his horrible flirting attempts. Nevertheless, she put on her best face and went along with it.

"Oh, you know, just a drink or two. Maybe a man to do me a favour as well." She said in a sultry tone, luring in the frat-boy with expert precision.

"I'm sure you can get both of those down here, but you need to be a bit more specific with that favour." He replied, easily letting himself be lured in by the kumiho.

"Well, I'm going to need some incentive before I tell you all that. There's a bonfire next week that needs some drinks supplied, help me out and I might let you in on a little deal." Ahri cooed, confident that Olaf had taken the bait. After he gave her the beer, she had plans to give him some small incentive. Maybe not exactly what he was expecting, but likely still enough to make the meathead think that it was worth it. Besides, it's not like Janna would notice if just one outfit was missing from the massive bag of clothes.

"I'm sure I could rustle something up for ya', got a big batch in the back with nobody around to drink it." Olaf said with a wicked grin adorning his face. It was almost too easy to get the barbarian to make a deal, Ahri felt almost as if she was stealing from him. However, even if there was a small hint of guilt in her mind, he was offering it willingly, and he would be sure to enjoy himself on the night of the event anyways.

"Why, thank you so much. I always appreciate a man with manners." Ahri said before leaving the bar and exiting the brewery, Olaf's gaze following her every step of the way. Her plan was managing to come together, there wasn't much left to obtain and it looked like everything might actually work out in the end.

Five more days whistled past, bringing the kitsune to the night before her bonfire. Reservations had been made for tables and food, leaving her nothing to do now but wait in anticipation. Before going to get breakfast, Ahri stopped by the notice board in the living quarters, inspecting a box placed beneath her sign. A slit was cut into the top, with slips of paper and a pen resting next to it. Upon unlocking and opening the box, Ahri found that it was full of the slips. Champion and summoner names alike were written on each piece of paper, announcing that they would be attending. The stack of paper at the top of the box was nearly gone, with only a few pieces remaining. Unless someone had dropped blank slips into the box as a joke, it looked like the bonfire would be very well attended. Smiling as she closed the lid, she turned and left for breakfast at the cafeteria.

Upon arriving she found the Janna and Leona were already seated with food at their normal spot, waiting for others to arrive. Ahri quickly grabbed a tray and piled it high with food, making her way over to the table and taking a seat next to Janna. It was an early morning, so the trio ate their food in silence for the most part. What little conversation they did have mostly revolved around recent League matches, but the topic soon died off as they all became more occupied with their meals. Ahri finished her large pile of food with ease, how she was able to fit all of it in her relatively small frame was a mystery to both Janna and Leona. Upon finishing she leaned back in her chair, wanting to relax in her last day before the bonfire. The two supports at the table finished soon after, Leona stacked all the trays and put them in the cleaning bin. Upon her return to the table she found that Ahri was nearly asleep, with Janna working on getting as many straws stuck in her hair without the kumiho noticing. Leona purposely scraped her chair across the floor when she sat down, waking the near sleeping fox and allowing the straws to tumble loosely to the ground. Although not fully alert, she seemed a bit more awake than before after her sudden jump.

"So, is the bonfire all ready?" Leona asked, planning on attending but worried that Ahri hadn't yet put all the pieces together.

"Yeah, it's ready. I'm a bit anxious, but there's not really anything more that I can do to prepare. I guess I just have to hope that it all runs smoothly." She replied.

It was the truth, she had wrote a checklist a few days ago and had been going through it endlessly, adding items and triple checking that everything was in place. If there was anything that she had missed, she definitely wouldn't be noticing it now. Yet these thoughts did nothing to calm her nerves, as she felt herself losing more sleep each night. Crawling under her soft sheets would momentarily provide relaxation, but after a few minutes of emptying her mind, thoughts of the event would flood back in. By the time she had soothed all of those annoying images, her mind would be too awake to go to sleep. This process would repeat itself over and over again, to the point where it would take a few hours for her to actually get properly settled in bed. After a few days of this poor sleeping schedule, it was starting to become very visible to others. Bags could be found under her eyes where there used to be flawlessly smooth skin, and she was drifting off into a near sleep at every given opportunity.

"Has it been keeping you up at night?" Janna asked. "You truly do look terrible."

Ahri gave off a sheepish smile before replying.

"Just a bit, it wasn't too bad at first but I can't get myself to relax now. I'll be fine though, it's almost over now."

"You still need to be well rested for tomorrow though, if you're losing sleep tonight you won't be in any condition to be hosting a late night event." Leona said, her motherly side showing through once more. "Whatever you need to do to get a better sleep, you need to do it."

Ahri knew that Leona was right, but she didn't really know what she could do to improve her night. Going to bed earlier may help, and sleeping in more could grab her a few extra hours. What she really needed to do was to just find a way to clear her mind, an issue with no obvious solution. Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, Ahri stood from the table, with the two supports following behind her. Ahri had a day planned out at the spa in an attempt to relax before the upcoming event, allowing herself to spend a bit extra on some luxury treatment. After filling Janna and Leona in on her plans, both champions agreed to come with her, provided there were vacancies at the spa.

Fortunately for the group, the ornate building was relatively empty, due to it being an early morning on a weekday. Booking a full treatment for all three, the trio entered into separate small rooms to begin their massages. Lying on the bed with precise hands working on her back, Ahri let her mind wander to thoughts of the future. If the bonfire were to be a success, her plan was to look at expanding the existing shop she had bought and renovating it into something to benefit all the residents of the League. Hopefully, if she could turn it into something positive it would help wipe the memories of the previous store, thus gaining her some more respect in the process. She hadn't really thought about what to do after all that was done, but it would likely take a long time to finish the project, giving her months to figure out what to do next. As an end goal, Ahri envisioned herself as redeemed by all the major city states where she had built a bad reputation, the most important of them all being Ionia. It was her home, and it hurt her to need be accepted by the people hailing from the distant country. Granted, she was a serial killer back there, for reasons that she could not deny. However she still envisioned the day that she could make up for her crimes, and be accepted by the residents of Ionia once more. Some, like Lee Sin, never developed a grudge against her in the first place, but it was in his nature to not nurture any form of hatred. The other champions were much less forgiving, but she still held onto a glimmer of hope that even the most resentful of the Ionians would be able to accept her. With the swirling torrent of thoughts dying down, Ahri allowed herself to succumb to her tiredness, drifting off to sleep in the massage bed.

The night was muggy and damp, the air stale and warm. Although not entirely unpleasant, it definitely could have been better. Leona sat atop the cliff, back leaning against the strong wood of the maple tree. A head of black hair was nestled into her midriff, the kitsune fast asleep in her lap. With all of her difficulties sleeping, Leona had thought it would be best to take Ahri somewhere relaxing, where she could let her mind slip away. She hadn't realized until an hour ago that Ahri had no idea who had built the stairs to the top, as Leona had forgot to ever tell Ahri about the project. The kumiho's chest rose and feel with her slow, steady breath. Leona lay still for another few minutes, ensuring that the warm body below her was fast asleep before moving. Slowly standing up and lowering Ahri's head to the soft grass below, before gently slipping her hands below the sleeping figure's body and picking her up with a steady yet soft grip. With slow and careful steps, Leona carried Ahri's sleeping form down the steep wooden steps, onto the paved walking path and back to the living quarters. Upon reaching Leona's room, she quietly opened the door and entered into the dark room. She closed the door behind her and walked over to her queen sized bed, laying Ahri down on one side before removing her outer clothing and crawling under the covers on the other side. It was not exceptionally late, but sleep found Leona quickly, her breathing slowing down until she was fully asleep beside the kitsune. A long day approached the curled up ball of fur, a day that would hopefully end in success.


End file.
